


One-Shots of the Magnificent Seven, Technically Eight!

by Po_ta_toes



Category: The Magnificent Seven (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, F/M, M/M, Multi, Multiple Crossovers, Multiple Pairings, Multiple Partners, Polygamy, Reader-Insert, Self-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-06-02 13:24:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19442332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Po_ta_toes/pseuds/Po_ta_toes
Summary: Originally called 'The Outlaw, the Gambler & Persuasion' on Wattpad, this work is a bunch of one-shots about our beloved Magnificent 7 characters, mostly Vasquez and Faraday, but also my OC character, Matilda Crawford, who if you want to see more of, I suggest reading my Joshua Faraday fanfiction, Make My World Go Black. Inspired by Hazel_Athena's Mag 7 works!** Involves Triad/Polygamy/MM/FMAlso multiple Alternate Universes!**





	1. Digging Our Graves

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [CBATM: Outtakes and One Shots](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9984008) by [Hazel_Athena](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hazel_Athena/pseuds/Hazel_Athena). 



The church bell sounds off as a warning to birds flying overhead for its last time before another parade of bullets ruins the beautiful spring air outside of Rose Creek. If it wasn't for the army of Blackstones raining down on the small town and its farming civilians with their leader, Bartholomew Bogue, staring at the scene from afar with a damn Gatling gun as a cowardly ambush, today would've been a beautiful day to go out for a ride on a horse, or maybe a swim in the streams.

Inside the church, men were lying flat on their backs and stomachs, guns were clutched by bloody white knuckles, flies flew above their heads, waiting to snack on open flesh with the sun starting to lower as the afternoon drags on. No one dared to look out the window, in fear of any gun ready to strike at the sight of a head peeking out, and if they weren't dead, they were most likely injured. No one walks away from the Devil's Breath unharmed.

Vasquez was ordering harshly for more ammo, yelling in his native tongue while favoring his right arm that he injured when he didn't get down fast enough when the Gatling gun went off, " _¡_ _Àndale_ _¡_ _Àndale_ _!_ "

He dares himself to look over and see if his lovers were still with him and sure enough, both his Irish gambler and his persuasive cowgirl were sitting side by side, clutching their open wounds while still loading their weapons and staying low and out of sight of the windows. Matilda had blood running down the left side of her shiny and exhausted face, a dirty bruise was smeared just above her cheekbone on the right side. Faraday was sweating just as profusely, his only visible injury was on the right side of his torso, the red clothing indicating the spot where he was shot by McCan, who met his own fate when Vasquez had come storming out of the church a few moments later, firing upon him until he fell dead into a coffin in a fit of rage.

Goodnight was not far away and had his arm around Billy after he had dragged him down to the ground to avoid the Gatling gun. Vasquez couldn't find a window of opportunity to shoot, since the damn automatic was still going, digging rounds after rounds of bullets into wood and flesh alike.

Suddenly, the rain of bullets stop. There's a moment of silence before Goodnight is on his feet to make sure no one else decided to get up,

"They're reloading! Stay down! Stay down!"

"Get down!" Billy ordered.

Faraday considers to stay low before he hears high-pitched screaming from a nearby building and he lets out a small gasp, "The children," he goes running out, not ever looking back. Billy stands just outside the doorway to provide him cover, shooting at any stray Blackstone's with his rifle, Faraday also shooting them as he runs off to help Sam with the children.

"Get down against the wall, come on!" Vasquez orders from inside the church. Himself, Matilda, Billy, and Goodnight were the only ones on their feet, quickly trying to recover enough ammo amongst other things. Matilda makes it her duty to drag the dead bodies out of the way of their path to the only exit of the building, forcing herself not to cough when she caught the scent of rotting flesh.

" _Cariño_ ," she looks up to see Vasquez walk up to her, cupping her face as he examined the huge cut on the side of her head, wiping some of the blood away with his thumb. She had earned that nasty cut from a close encounter with a Blackstone and the butt of a pistol. The outlaw was examining her injury with a worried look, his lips curved downward while his eyes widen, his eyebrows furrow.

She reached up to pat his wrist, smiling, "I'm fine, Vas. I'm okay. _Cálmese_..." She noticed the grin that twitched up his lips for a moment when she tried speaking his tongue.

They break away from each other when they hear a shout from up on the steeple, and it turns out that Billy and Goodnight had climbed up the perch to the steeple and were ordering everyone to get back down.

There's shots firing from outside and Vasquez ducks low as he runs out, guns blazing with Tilda right at his heels. They both notice Sam was now on foot and providing cover for Faraday as he's searching for a horse.

And just like that, they know what he's up to.

" _¡_ _Àndale_ _,_ _güero_ _!_ " Vasquez encouraged blatantly for one of his lovers to hurry.

Faraday smoothly swings himself over a random horse after he shoots his owner and rides off, and a sinking feeling washes over both Vasquez's and Matilda's chests, her lungs seemed to stop working while his expands dramatically as they shared the same thought.

They might have just sent their lover on a suicide mission.

The shooting had gotten so bad that the two of them run back into the church for cover, still firing at the remaining Blackstone's, nonetheless.

"RIDE, FARADAY, RIDE!" They heard Goodnight whoop in encouragement from above them. The curiosity got the best of them and they peek out the window, seeing Faraday riding out onto the field, a handful of Blackstone agents in tow.

They watched as the Blackstone's fall off their horses, one by one, as Goodnight and Billy provided cover for their fellow gambler with their sharpshooting. Matilda could've sworn she could've heard Goodnight yell, 'I got 'im!' just as the last bastard following Faraday fell to the earth and it all went to hell.

The damn Gatling gun went off again, and this time, it was directly aimed at the church, specifically the steeple. Matilda nearly screams as Vasquez drags her back down to the ground. There are loud grunts, bullets impacting against the flesh, a large thud sounding off just above their heads, and they fear the worst for their friends.

There's another wave of silence as the Devil's Breath is reloading, or stopped when it found its target, and Matilda jumps to her feet, staring up at the ceiling and praying, _expecting_ to hear whoops and hollers of victory from a specific Cajun and a quiet assassin.

Instead, they hear knife-tearing silence.

"Goody?!" Matilda yelled up to the steeple in the false hope that he'd answer, then yelled for his companion, "Billy?!"

She makes a motion that she was going to climb up the rope to get up there, but Vasquez firmly stops her and brings her back to the wall for protection from the still flying bullets from nearby pistols.

They both peer out to see Faraday still riding, but he was getting smaller and smaller the further he rode away from the town, away from his lovers. Suddenly, they watched as he jerks in a more than one motion you could only make if you got shot multiple times, and now he's falling off his horse, making no motion to get up.

"FARADAY!" Matilda screamed, only getting a shot near her head in response as she gives away her location to a nearby Blackstone. But the minute he enters the doorway, Vasquez has him killed.

Vasquez is equally scared shitless and almost forgets how to breathe when he watches Faraday in the distance sit back up, throw something towards the gun, and watch for a split second as the Blackstone's try to break into a run before it was all blown to smithereens.

**_BOOM._ **

Time stops as the ground shakes beneath the entire town, even though most of the men ignored the explosion and kept shooting. Vasquez had ducked behind the window, peering out every once in a while, gun loaded, his chest heaving up and down in disbelief. He screams out in anguish.

_"_ _Güero_ _?_ _GÜERO_ _?!?"_

He kept expecting someone, _anyone_ at this point, to respond in that familiar voice with a 'so far, so good' so he could sigh in relief. So he could erase the explosion from his mind because Faraday was alright... he wasn't killed. 

As he keeps screaming out the window to someone who was no longer there, Matilda is kneeling down, leaning over the floor as she silently cried, listening to Vasquez scream for her other lover. Tears flow down her face as she hugged her knees, her heart aching so much she wanted it to stop beating so it'd hurt less. It was beating undeniably fast, feeling light but at the same time, it made her sick.

She runs out when she couldn't take it anymore, and suddenly she starts sprinting towards the field, Vasquez not having the heart at the moment to stop her, and wanting to do the exact same thing as her but he couldn't get up from his spot on the floor.

"FARADAY! FARADAY!"

There's a pair of bare, pure muscle of arms forcing their way around her and roughly dragging her back into town, the strength of the arms strong enough to cause bruising on Matilda's skin. She screams in protest, "NO! NO!"

She starts kicking and cursing as she's yanked back away from the field, away from Faraday. She's crying and screaming, but unable to punch her attacker since they have her arms trapped at her sides with their own. She whips her head back to bang against her attacker and when he loosens his grip on her, she spins around to realize it was Red Harvest.

He didn't seem to acknowledge his now bloody nose, and Matilda, just for a moment, was calm. She was thinking about how Faraday would've laughed and praised her for even getting close enough to the red skin to even draw blood from the claimed stone-cold archer. And just like that, the very thought of Faraday not even being here to say that drives her to break down, sobbing more loudly this time. She sinks to her knees against the dirt, clawing at the ground for some form of comfort. She's at the brink of heaving because the sobs have drowned her and derived her from breathing, making her sick to her stomach. Even after her eyes are dry and there are no more tears to weep, she's still screaming as if she was the one who had just been blown to bits.

Red Harvest kept his distance, standing over Matilda until, out of the corner of his eye, he sees Vasquez crawl out of the church soon after, losing his strength and his balance, holding onto the doorway to keep himself supported upright. He had lost the will to even hold his gun up and drops it as Red and one other farmer drag him and Matilda away before Bogue and his remaining two men are about to enter the town and Sam was going to finish them off. They used the saloon as an infirmary, and a few brave women and children stayed behind to attend to the wounded. Red Harvest set his two friends on two cots side by side, and he steps back out when he knows they're in the right hands.

Matilda has finally found the will to stop sobbing and sits in silence, besides the fact she coughed while trying to catch her breath now that her voice had gone hoarse. While her head wound was being treated and she was given a cup of water to quench her throat, Vasquez's sleeve was completely ripped off for the doctor to clean and stitch up his bullet wound. They sat across from each other in silence, not looking at each other as they wallowed in their personal loss. Their hands had eventually found each other and they lightly hold on to the other's fingers.

Tilda sniffs to break the silence and sucks in a breath, staring at the wall then at the ground as she slowly regains herself, "I want to go out and find him."

Vasquez basks in silence for a moment, staring at her tear stained face with heartbroken eyes. The aftermath of the battle and the loss of a lover made him look ten times older than usual. Finally, he shakes his head at Matilda, even though she couldn't see it.

"As do I...but _cariño_...there's nothing out there you would want to see."

His thumb traces over her gun-powdered skin, and in turn, she entwines their fingers together in a lace pattern, taking in the warmth of his palm against hers. She could feel his pulse, and it's lessened for the time being.

There's a final gunshot coming from the church down the road, and Matilda nearly jumps out of her skin, now acting as skittish as ever to any sound out of place. For the moment, the shock coursing through her body doesn't go away, and she's shaking. She clutches Vasquez's hand even tighter, biting her bottom lip nervously.

Vas never wanted to see her like this. It hurt him to see her so broken just as much as it hurt to watch a man he loved to blow up in his face. He had everything he ever wanted. Friends, a place to live, laughter and two of the most beautiful humans he could ever ask for as the loves of his life. But of course, his own words come back to haunt him,

_'I don't have the guts to be responsible for anyone, but me.'_

It sends shivers down his spine and it wracks a sob from underneath him.

_'That's why I never had anything.'_

And he did. He did have everything. Even if it was only a split second, he had everything he ever wanted, everyone he ever loved. And now a part of that was ripped away from him.

There's movement in the doorway to the saloon and he looks up, finding Sam standing there with a panicked look. He had just gotten back from finishing off Bogue -which Emma finished for him- and just had a look around town to find that Goodnight, Billy, and Jack were lying dead out in the sun. He had come back to the infirmary to see for himself, to see if he had lost any others.

Vasquez swallowed something dry in his throat while looking up at the bounty hunter, his voice that was once full of enthusiasm had left, "Bogue?"

Sam just shook his head, trying to find his own words while questioning the outlaw, "Faraday?"

He shakes his head in response.


	2. Triad Soulmate AU!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gist of this is that three individuals -sometimes more than three- are soulmates and destined to be together. What happens is that the minute they lock eyes, they know because it feels like they just started living their lives, like they had just been born, and it's almost instant love. And whether they're a whole triad yet or not, they're together and stay together until they find their final mate(s), then their triad is complete. I kinda laugh sometimes because it sounds like a tribe. Sometimes, it doesn't turn out to be a romantic bond and can be almost a parental/child/brother/sister twine, but for the sake of this story, let's keep it romantic.

Matilda and Vasquez were the first two of their triad to meet. The outlaw was following Sam Chisolm around just after he had found him in the dead man's cabin. He wouldn't admit it with his wounded pride and all, but Sam was the first bounty hunter to ever get the drop on him.

Sam leads him and Missus Emma Cullen to another small town a day before they were supposed to meet up with the others outside of Volcano Springs. The outlaw was cautious when the warrant officer led them over to a saloon and informed the others that he was looking for a woman to join the mission. Vasquez decided to stay outside with the horses, due to his paranoia about a wanted man in a public place.

After Sam and Emma went inside, Vasquez fed the horses then took out a cigar to chew on while he cleans a little dirt off his guns. He leaned against a post and tuned out most of the noise this town had to offer, lowering his hat over his eyes whenever someone walked by.

"Vasquez, this is Miss Crawford. She'll be joining us."

He looked up and flinched noticeably, being caught off guard when his dark eyes met a pair of gray and green-speckled orbs. The minute their pupils locked, there was a light, almost chilling rush of unnatural air that flew down both of their spines and their ears, for a brief moment, couldn't pick up the slightest of sounds. Vasquez could only describe it as living again, and to some, it was almost like dying, where your life flashed before your eyes. Well, it was like that, but with memories of a life you've never seen before, but you'd want to get to know. Some say when you meet each of your soulmates, you see their memories flash behind your eyes once your gaze meets, and then just like that, they quickly fade away and you forget them, and it leaves you stunned as if you had just awoken from a nightmare you couldn't remember.

Miss Crawford bites her lip to suppress a gasp, the only clue Vasquez notice that she saw it too was her wide eyes. The moment is gone, but deep down, in the pit of their guts, they both knew. Sam and Emma didn't seem to have noticed, at least not right away. When the two mounted their horses and were getting ready to go, they came to the observation when they realized that Vasquez and Crawford haven't moved from their spots. They were still oddly staring at each other.

Finally, the other woman blinks, breaking the shocked gaze and spoke, "Hi, um... you can call me Matilda."

Vasquez felt his chest tighten at her name and resisted the urge to smile. When he was a boy, his mama described to him what it would feel like to meet your soulmates, and if meeting one alone feels like this, he wondered what it would feel like to see both of them together. He loved seeing his mother and his two fathers dance around each other happily, and he always imagined what it would be like for him one day. But then he killed a man, a ranger, but not a very nice one because Vasquez watched him hit and threaten a child. After that, he's been on the run, hiding from others, and not setting eyes on another living soul (because his friend-who-doesn't-snore-much doesn't count) in a long time. After the $500 reward was placed on his head, Vasquez had forgotten and lost hope in finding his triad of soulmates.

Finally, he lost the battle of resist and felt a small grin plaster his face, " _Mi reina_ fits you better. Alejandro Vasquez."

Playing the hard to get game, Matilda didn't ask what that meant and Vasquez wasn't inclined to tell her anyways, thinking two could play at that game. While riding up to the meetup point outside of Junction City with Sam and Emma, the two now supposed soulmates would once in a while chase each other on their horses, laughing and sounding younger then they were. Young and in love. Vasquez has never felt happiness such as this, and he hoped it would never go away.

Matilda enjoyed this new feeling she's never felt before. Hearing stories as to what having soulmates feels like, from her parents, she couldn't wait to grow up and go out and find love for herself. She was determined, even as a child, and having two mothers and father will do that to you. She grew up strong and spirited, not knowing the meaning of how women should act or dress. After her mothers passed away, however, young Matilda had to watch her father spiral and drink to the point where she no longer recognized him. And when she was old enough, she headed out, searching far and wide for adventure, claiming that she never wanted to end up like her father, but secretly, she was searching for her triad in the process.

Upon reaching the meetup point, Sam informed them that the rest of their party wasn't here yet and so the two soulmates dismounted their horses, helped with the fire, but then strayed a little further away from the other man and woman so they could talk.

And man did they talk. For hours it seemed, and they talked about everything and anything. Vasquez didn't think he had it in him to have any means of social skills, and yet here he was, talking as if those years of running from society and loneliness never happened. Matilda was definitely a good change for him.

"How long did it take...?"

Matilda asked Vasquez towards the end of their conversation, and by that time they have ended up sitting shoulder to shoulder, hands barely brushing together with their faces barely a foot apart.

"For what?"

"For your parents' whole triad to find each other?"

"Oh," he looked back down at the fire, "Six years. Ma and Pa found each other first, then my father completed the triad six years later. I was born two years after that."

"Oh, I see."

Vasquez looked back at her, seeing that her eyes had now drifted off to stare at the fire, the glowing flame reflecting off her gaze. His face glowers to something grim and stares at the fire, seeing that the sun was starting to set over the plain. He pokes the fire with a stick to give him something to do, ignoring the slight snores erecting from Sam not far off and Emma's sleeping form leaning against a nearby tree.

"After I...killed that _cabrón_ , I gave up on ever finding my _almas gemelas_. Now...I don't have the guts to be responsible for anyone but me. That's why I've never had anything."

Matilda looked back up at him with not anger like he expected, but sympathy, and a small smile formed on her lips, "Maybe that's because you never found any of your soulmates up until now."

"That doesn't mean I didn't try before."

"What do you mean?"

Vasquez stared down at the dirt ground as the sun finally disappeared for the night, the stars coming up overhead. "I got desperate. I tried loving those who weren't my soulmates because I was running out of time and patience. I thought I would grow old like my grandfather did before he found his triad. I couldn't wait that long."

She nods, "I see. Well, I got news for you, _vaquero_. You're not gonna scare me away like you're trying to do right now. _Lo siento_ , but you're stuck with me."

He scoffs, but nevertheless, a fond smile spread across his face. He'll have to ask where she picked up the very few phrases of Spanish she knew some time.

As he stared into the fire, Matilda made a bold move and wrapped her arms around his torso, settling her head on his shoulder despite how stiff his muscles got at her touch. She sighs while looking at the fire, "And hopefully sooner or later, we'll find the rest of our triad and you'll feel like you can be responsible again."

There's another scoff, and Matilda blatantly ignores it. They sit like that for a while, and before long she lies down and goes to sleep by his feet. He wasn't ready to sleep among strangers yet, even if one of them was one of his soulmates. He may have found someone he could finally be with, but that doesn't mean he doesn't trust her yet.

He stays up all night, most of the time he was keeping watch due to his paranoia, but the rest of the time, he stared down at Matilda, watching her sleep fondly, and was curious as to how she was able to trust him so fast to fall asleep next to a killer.

She smiled in her sleep, hair tossed into a messy braid with a thin wool blanket barely covering her shoulders. Vasquez will deny for the rest of his life that he had tucked her in more warmly, bringing the blanket up to cover her fully.

As the sun grows higher up into the sky the next day, Matilda had woken up to tend to the horses, and Emma goes to a nearby stream to refill her canteen. Sam sits off away from the others, sitting on a log while clutching his neck. Vasquez stayed by the fire, back close to the tree while watching the others suspiciously. He looks over his shoulder to see four figures on horses riding up to them from a distance. All warning signs went off in his brain and he stood up, forming his lips to whistle to his compadres as a warning to them. They all stood close to each other as the horses grew closer, and as they rode up, Sam and one of the new men yelped in happy welcome.

"Sam Chisolm!"

"Goodnight Robicheaux!"

As the two embrace, Vasquez and Matilda stay in the far back, the outlaw with his hands on his guns. His eyes scan the new group. Billy Rocks from what he just overheard Goodnight introduce him as, tilts his hat to Sam before taking two of the horses to graze by the others. Teddy Q, as he figured was Miss Cullen's associate, looked wary while riding with the other three strange men. The final man, however, intrigued Vasquez. He was tilting his head back to take his last couple of swigs of what the outlaw assumed was whiskey. He was well built, and under his hat, he could see red hair. He was definitely handsome, and interesting looking for a cowboy, and nearly chuckled in amusement when the man struggled to get off his high horse...literally.

He's muttering something to Sam before he turns his head and his green eyes land on two other pairs of brown and gray eyes staring right back at him. He wasn't sure if it was the whiskey or the fact that he felt the wind get knocked out of him when those eyes meet his did the redhead want to suddenly throw up. But he fights against it, biting his tongue while staring at the beautiful pair in front of him. While Vasquez and Matilda see his memories running through their mind, the lone cowboy is struggling to handle both of theirs all at once, and instantly he knows. He knows that those two -who made the most beautiful and odd couple- were meant to be with him. These two were his triad soulmates.

And all he did was play it off like it was nothing, and maybe that's because he was drunk and covered his mishap with a smooth, "Oh, good we got a Mexican."

While he mocked and intimidated Vasquez, Matilda refrained from laughing, because she thought the insults sounded almost playful. However, Vasquez didn't seem all that amused. She let Sam drive the outlaw away, before turning towards the other man, who was already grinning at her.

"I think me and him will get along just fine," he says with a delighted gleam in his eye like a child on Christmas. He then takes Matilda's hand in his, and his grin turns into a sweet, sincere smile while he dips down to kiss her knuckles, "Joshua Faraday."

"Matilda Crawford." She felt her lips twitch against her will.

"Tilda it is then." He laughed.

That night, as they all sit by the campfire before they make their final trek the next day to get one more man to join them before heading to Rose Creek.

Goodnight leans over to Sam, making sure his voice was lowered as the fire lit their bodies, "Is there something going on there we should know about?"

Sam looks up to see where Goodnight is staring at to see Faraday and the two other troublemakers he brought along talking quietly on the other side of the fire. He looks back down with the stick in his hand he was using to poke the fire.

"I have a hunch."

"Do tell." Said the old man, intrigued.

"Missus Cullen and I noticed the signs when Matilda and Vasquez first met. If I'm not mistaken, those two are indeed soulmates. And since there wasn't a second party hanging around either one of them when I found them, my guess is they haven't found their third mate yet."

"Well I'll be damned," Goodnight's eyebrows rose in utter shock, "Do you think Mister Faraday is...?"

"Might be." Sam smiled.

"They didn't have to wait very long to find each other, did they? That took them all of what, three days?"

The Cajun said this last part more to himself than to his old friend, and the hint of sadness in his voice made Sam spare a glimpse over at him.

Goodnight was looking away, staring over at the assassin, Billy, who was sharpening his knives while trying not to make it obvious that he was also peeking over at the younger triad before quickly looking away. There was no doubt in Sam's mind that those two were soul-bound. But even though they were happy, it didn't mean they were whole. And soulmates usually never did feel whole until their entire triad was complete, and in Billy and Goodnight's case... it wasn't. They've waited so long, but their third soulmate has yet to show up in their lives. And Sam could see why Goodnight envies the three younger adults sitting across the fire from him, talking in hushed voices like young lovers would.

Faraday, now fully sober, grins like a mad wolf, "Now, no hard feelings about that Mexican comment, right hombre? I was just trying to start a conversation."

Vasquez growled at the fire, but Matilda could tell there was no actual heat behind his threatening sound. She lets her hand gently touch his arm and the outlaw spares a look at her.

" _No se puede mentir que es guapo_ ," she hums with a small grin.

He huffs in annoyance and looks away again, " _Tan guapo como él es estúpida_."

She laughs loudly, her voice traveling across camp and Faraday takes it as a good sign, despite how he couldn't understand them, and he grins.

"Where'd you learn Mexican, Tilda?"

"It's Spanish," she said pointedly, "And I learned it from a family friend when I was a kid."

"Well, what'd he say?"

"I said 'he's as handsome as he is stupid'." Vasquez grinned wickedly, hoping to earn a rise out of Faraday.

But the gambler only smiles, almost as if he was proud of the outlaw's sad attempts, "Alright, Vas."

"Don't call me that, _güero_."

"Well then don't call me _güero_... whatever that means..."

Matilda only smiles fondly at them.

The story at how they first meet Jack Horne was definitely an interesting one to tell. They stood at the abandoned cabin, being bored of hearing the Pigeon Brothers story as to how they managed to kill the bear of a man. Matilda was twirling some straw between her teeth amusedly while leaning against the fence post on the front porch. Vasquez was on the other side of the post, leaning against his knee while grinning at the idiotic Pigeon Brothers with amusement. Faraday sat down on the front porch steps near Matilda's feet, his hand reaching back for support and finds entertainment by tapping his fingers against her boot. Faraday was a touch-starved being, Matilda noticed almost right away.

When Jack Horne finally arrived to get his revenge, and Goodnight made the comment about how the Pigeon Brothers weren't famous for very long, Matilda and Vasquez broke into a fit of chuckles, making Faraday smile despite Jack Horne's supposed distress, his chest warming up at the sound of his lovers laughing together. It was music to his ears.

After gathering up Jack Horne and Red Harvest as the last two members of their band, it's finally time to start heading towards Rose Creek. It didn't take long, obviously keeping their distance from the town until Sam has a plan and puts it in play. He asks Matilda and Billy to ride alongside him as the first line of defense of the town, while the others come up from behind Bogue's men. Goodnight, Faraday, and Vasquez didn't like this idea, sending one of their soulmates out there with no visible weapon or protection besides Sam's horse and Billy's knives. It made them antsy just thinking about it. As the plan is pulled out and they were ready to go, Faraday doesn't hesitate to offer Tilda one of his guns, Maria.

She smirks suddenly, "And what made you think I didn't have a gun?"

It gave everyone a moment to comprehend that, standing in silence because if they were being honest, none of them had ever seen her pull out a weapon before all this. This woman was definitely full of surprises.

Matilda and Billy walk alongside Sam, who remains up on his horse as they walk into town, and so the rest of the gang go to get into position. While stealthily walking around the town without being spotted, Vasquez snatches Faraday's sleeve.

Joshua looks back at him with a quizzical, almost annoyed look, "What?"

"I don't like this, _güero_." He muttered under his breath, Faraday barely being able to hear it.

To be honest, the gambler was a little stunned. It had been the first time that Vasquez has touched him, let alone let him hear the uncertainty in his voice for their other soulmate's safety. The outlaw's borders had started to crumble, and he was warming up to Faraday.

Who didn't seem to mind at all as he smiles with reassurance, "You don't need to be. It's fine, but just remember I'll always have your back, muchacho."

And he does. He stood across the street from Vasquez while Matilda takes the middle of town with Sam and Billy. As the shooting starts, Faraday barely flinches when a bullet lands into the wood beside his head and takes out the bastard who tried to kill him. Eventually, he makes it to the middle of the street, shooting off some Blackstones trying to shoot at an unresponsive Goodnight. He barely noticed that both Vasquez and Matilda were back to back with him, guns blazing and shooting off anyone within each other's blind spots. The three worked effortlessly well together, side by side. Almost like they were made for each other. And, in their case, they were.

That night, after the shooting and after a dinner provided by the suspicious and weary townspeople of Rose Creek, Vasquez plans to spend a night alone, in a room he didn't feel safe in and in a town he was worried would hand him over for that bounty. But at the same time, in his paranoid mind, he knew they had bigger things to worry about.

He feels a hand clap his shoulder and a face right next to his, Faraday wearing a wolfish grin, "Your pick, Vas! Which room are we staying in?"

" _Qué_?"

"Very forward, isn't he?" Vasquez looks to the other side of him to see Matilda smiling when their eyes meet. "Come on. I'm exhausted."

Vasquez finds himself lying between Matilda and Faraday that night, admitting to even himself that he felt safe. He has spent many restless nights by himself, so you could imagine what it felt like to fall asleep alone at night while everyone is after your head. He and his two soulmates talk for a few more hours, despite Matilda's early statement about how tired she was. They talked about their lives. Who they've lost in the past, who they've loved, and suddenly Faraday became stiff against Vasquez's back.

"You know, Tilda told me right away what her name was, but you never told me yours."

Vas shifted his body to face Faraday, taking note that the rowdy cowboy's usual trickster smile had vanished and was replaced with what he assumed was sadness? Joshua had his head propped up against his hand while he laid sideways, facing Vasquez and Matilda. By now, they were so sure that Faraday would've made a joke about how shocked he was that they were all still wearing clothes, but he's kept to sincere, serious questions all night, and it concerned them.

Vasquez's face suddenly softened, and it was a facial expression Faraday was seeing for the first time. The outlaw's hand reaches up to touch the other man's arm, and he basked at how Faraday's muscles almost relaxed underneath his touch like he was trusting him. And that's a feeling Vasquez never felt coming off another human being around him ever. It made his lips twist into a small smile.

"Alejandro."

Faraday's lips turned into an upside-down crescent moon, with a grin as wide as his face. "That's quite a mouthful, Alejandro."

Vasquez shivered in response at how his name falls out of Faraday's mouth. Matilda's chin hooks over his shoulder suddenly to stare at Faraday with a twinkle in her eye.

"I like it. I love how it rolls off the tongue."

Faraday laughs and Vasquez thanked the Lord for the room being dark enough where no one could see his blush. Matilda giggled and her hand absentmindedly rested against his waist from behind. Faraday smiles fondly at her before turning back to the other man, grinning.

"You will forgive me if I call you Ale."

Ale laughs so suddenly and out of nowhere, it actually stuns his soulmates at how upbeat he sounded. " _Idiota_. I'll consider it."

Faraday is way beyond happy, smiling like an idiot. He is too caught up in the moment to even stop himself. He leans over and kisses Vasquez, finally aware of what he did when he felt the other man's whole body stiffen beside him. He pulls away, meeting equally shocked gazes from Matilda and Vasquez. He ducks his head, shamefully.

"Sorry. I shouldn't have done that. I should've asked. We had all just met and we were finally getting along and I just screwed it all up. I-!"

Seeing a usually overconfident man get all flustered annoyed Vasquez and he decides to shut the Irishman up by bringing him in for another kiss. It was much stronger and more forceful, but it does the job just fine as Joshua stopped talking.

Matilda had to refrain herself from grinning like an idiot.

As they get to work on planning for war, Sam splits everyone up for preparation in the fields of work that was just right for them. Himself, Faraday and Goodnight took a big line of men to practice their shooting. Red Harvest was set out to see how long it would take Bogue's men to get to Rose Creek. Billy was supposed to teach a handful of men how to use knives, but that went downhill quickly so he decided to help Horne and the others out by digging trenches in the fields. Emma Cullen gathers some women and children into the school and has them paint tiny pinwheels the color red, and finally, Vasquez and Matilda were left to gather large logs and scraps of trees to saw down and cut into spears, gates, log cannons, and fences to defend the small town. With those two and a batch of men, they get to work cutting down the wood in the barn on the edge of town.

Matilda is carving some smaller trees into picks, sharpening the tips as a line of defense to put around the town. She looks up halfway through her work to stare at Vasquez, who was basically tearing a huge log apart. He had discarded any heavy or unneeded clothing for the hard labor, his hat was gone so Matilda could see the dark curls of hair she didn't know he had. He had removed his vest, guns, and belt, leaving his trousers and undershirt on but kept the filthy white shirt untucked and unbuttoned, showing off the smallest amount of skin down his chest. His hands were covered in grime and dirt and his tanned skin was shining in hard-working sweat. Matilda was thankful for the natural heat in this valley since it was hot enough that no one would second guess why her face was so red.

As the day drags on, Matilda heads out to teach a few farmers who didn't know how to ride a horse how to mount and tame the beautiful beasts. Meanwhile, the other seven men she travels with go to reclaim the mine and free the men who were enslaved there.

"Be careful now, you hear?" She asks sternly.

"No promises." Faraday grins, earning an elbow to the gut and a roll of the eyes from Vasquez.

When they return, it was nearly dusk. Matilda's eyebrows shot up when they came back with just about two dozen men as reinforcements and a wagon full of explosives.

"What are we gonna do with all this dynamite?" She asks while lifting a box to carry into the hotel out of Vas' arms, giving her outlaw a small kiss on the mouth before pulling away.

"It's for a few surprises," Billy states quietly, earning a bunch of laughs from his allies riding beside him. Matilda didn't get the inside joke, but the thought of blowing something up alone made her grin.

The next day, she ended up helping her two soulmates with rigging the town with explosives.

"Very smart, smoking, huh?" Vasquez nonchalantly comments, not even looking at Faraday as he references the cigarette in his mouth as they wire up a dynamite trap.

"This coming from the man who usually always has a cigar in his mouth." Matilda scoffs playfully. Faraday chuckles, taking the smoke out of his mouth and throwing it at Alejandro's sleeve.

Yes, even though by the end of the week the three of them might be dead, the young triad tries to make the most out of the little time they have left together all the worthwhile with this soulmate bond.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, you'll have to forgive me if Vasquez's Spanish is not accurate please don't judge me


	3. Jurassic World AU!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, Horne and Faraday have their Jurassic World names and Matilda is based off another OC of mine, Kathy, who is in my 'Alpha Female' Jurassic Park fanfiction on Wattpad. If you would like to read that, you can find it on my profile @TMNT221BHobbit

In a world where man brought the dinosaurs back for a godforsaken amusement park, Jack Horne is known as a government asshole called Hoskins, Joshua Faraday is known as an Ex-Navy velociraptor trainer, Owen Grady, and Matilda Crawford is known as his girlfriend and partner in raptor training, Dr. Kathryn Doucet.

Granddaughter of the great John Hammond, the idiot who created Jurassic Park in the first place, Kathryn knew the risks of going back to that hell hole after twenty-two years of obviously avoiding it after her first encounter on the island when she was seven years old. But after her grandfather died and the park was renamed Jurassic World, Kathy decided that she needed to grow some balls and face her worst fear: velociraptors.

The very monsters that almost tore her to pieces when she was just a kid. The very monsters that had herself and her brother and sister trapped in a kitchen. The very monsters that tore her grandpa's coworkers apart. The very monsters who hunt and kill in packs and are extremely smart and lethal after eight months.

Facing her fear by raising four baby raptors from the very moment they hatched was not on her agenda, but at the same time, she couldn't complain. She got Owen Grady out of it, he even asked her out on the first day of meeting her when they were supposed to work together in raising these raptors, who Kathy let Owen name Blue, Delta, Echo, and Charlie. It was the least she could do after everything he has and is going to do for her.

The first few years of living, working and breathing in Jurassic World was -dare she say- magical. She was completely happy and most importantly in love with her Owen and her dino-girls. She happily lived in Owen's bungalow, always getting up early in the mornings to take a ride to the raptor paddock on her boyfriend's motorcycle and working the whole hot summer day with her odd but wonderful family. She had everything she ever wanted, the only thing she hated in her life was that asshole and bear of a man, Hoskins from the government, thinking he owned _her_ raptors. All the same, she was completely happy.

Until one day, her nightmares had finally come back to haunt her. The asset, also known as the Indominous Rex, was out of containment and destroying Kathy's life. Everything went to hell, shit hitting the fan, and the humans have yet made another mistake as to even thinking that they could control these animals. Reliving what she had already experienced as a child, Kathryn was this time ready to start this fight.

After escaping the island along with thousands of other people, Kathy finds herself at a loss. She lost her girls, not exactly knowing if Blue was the last alive out of her pack, and lost her home. She lost her friends...

She even lost Owen.

They tried but they couldn't stay together any longer. They had fallen in love and raised their raptors on that island, now both of those factors were out of their lives forever. The part of them that even made them a family was gone. After barely scraping up enough money to live in a beat down apartment, the two had fought constantly. Neither backed down, and one day one of them blamed the other for losing their raptors, and the other stormed out, never wanting to see them again. Kathy doesn't exactly remember who or which of them was the one to walk out, it was all a bit fuzzy. Five years went by and she hasn't seen Owen since.

She found herself living off of her rich family's money, living under her sister's roof while sometimes taking a job from her brother, who traveled a lot for work. But other times, she worked as a barista in a small coffee shop in a run-down neighborhood. That job was practically killing her, and she was nearly dying of boredom.

Until one day she hands a cup of coffee off to a gruffly-beared yet handsome Mexican and everything came smacking back to her in the face.

After taking a sip of what he ordered, the rugged man scowled and cursed, " _No_ _debería_ _tener_ _que_ _esperar_ _tanto tiempo solo por_ _mierda_ _de vaca como_ _esta_ _._ "

Kathryn detected the Spanish almost immediately and frowns, calling out to the man who was about to walk out. "Hey," when he turned back to her, she responded, " _Hice_ _esa_ _mierda_ _de vaca_ _así_ _que_ _vete_ _a la_ _verga_ _culero_ _._ "

The Mexican eyes widened just the slightest bit, and his lips open and close again for a while, trying to form words while staring at this beautiful frowning woman behind the counter before clearing his throat.

"Forgive me, _güera_. I didn't mean to be so rude."

"Well, actually you did, you just didn't think I would understand you." Her voice dripped in sarcasm, propping her hands up against the counter while shrugging nonchalant and tilting her head to the side.

He figures it was the perfect moment to move back to the counter, finding himself grinning in amusement. "So. You speak Spanish?"

"Some. My grandfather owned an island off of Central America for a theme park so I learned some things from the locals." Kathy says this while writing down another person's order and getting to work on their drink.

"Theme park... you mean Jurassic World?"

The sudden silence could cut the humid air into pieces as Kathy paused in the middle of pouring the ingredients into a blender, her back turned away from this persistent stranger.

"John Hammond was your grandfather?" The man asked.

"Well look at you, you know the history." She finally found herself snarling in disgust, still not looking back at him.

He chuckles regardless, "No, actually an old friend of mine from the Navy used to work at the park."

Kathryn refuses to believe up until the day she died that her hands started to shake at that very moment, "Let me guess, Owen Grady?" She asked, her voice mimicking her hands' movements.

"How'd you know?" His eyebrows furrowed in suspicion.

"Owen is the only man I knew while I worked there who was from the Navy..." She slowly lets out while finishing the drink, turning back around and handing it off to the customer who ordered it and stood back in front of her new strange friend.

He chuckles yet again, "He leaves quite the impression around everyone he works with, doesn't he?"

"Who _are_ you?" She almost demands -if 'almost' is the kinder word for it- "I find it hard to believe that two ex-lovers of Owen Grady just magically and coincidentally run into each other at a café."

The man's eyes widen with a flush color of embarrassment flooding his cheeks, "I never said-!"

"You didn't have to. You're his type."

He swallows something while staring at the woman in astonishment, "Vasquez. And you?"

"Kathryn."

"Well, uh, Kathryn. I actually came here looking for clues as to how to find Owen, because I need his help."

"Well, you don't need to look any further. I know where he lives, just don't tell him that. I intended on making him believe I never wanted to see him again."

~~~~~~~~~

Vas, as Matilda found out that's what everyone calls him nowadays, stood outside the run-down apartment complex, staring up at it with a scrunched up nose and a deep frown. He looks over at the woman who brought him here, who found herself getting comfortable leaning against the wall leading into a nearby alleyway.

"Go on. Room 203. And remember, don't tell him it was me."

He finds himself up the stairs and staring at the golden letters painted in the number Kathryn told him to find. He noticed how his fingers were frozen before knocking, regardless. It's been years since he last talked to Owen, even longer since the last time they saw each other. What they had back then was short, careless. They were so young and so ready to take on the world so they had both joined the Navy and had met each other during training. Their naive nature and their eagerness brought them together, and some could say they were young enough not to know what exactly love was at the time. It's probably what broke them apart. Despite how much they loved each other, something broke after six years of being in the Navy. Owen was respectively discharged after a fatal explosion that nearly tore his leg off, and for the next year he could only communicate with Vasquez through email, and the distance was probably what drove them apart. After a while, the emails stopped coming, and Vas was inclined not to send anymore all the same.

It's the reason why Vas hesitates before knocking on the rotten wood of Owen's door and holds his breath while he waits. There's shuffling behind the door and it makes Vasquez paranoid enough to cover the peephole in the door for good measure, in case Owen saw him and decided not to let him in. The door slowly unlocks, probably because the man behind it noticed how the peephole was covered and was cautious about opening the door.

The first thing Vasquez saw was the hair, a little longer than the buzz cut he was used to seeing on Owen. His red hair was more noticeable this way, and he wore at least a two-week-old beard that grew barely past a centimeter. He was wearing a white shirt that he could've easily been wearing the past two days due to the wrinkles and small smudges covering it. His tan jeans were rolled up a couple of folds, unable to cover up the dirty white socks he happened to be wearing at the moment. He still had the same built physique, however, as Vasquez very strongly observed.

Owen seemed just as shocked to see the other man as he stood there, frozen, his action to pulling at his hair paused while observing that familiar dark hair and eyes.

" _Vas_?" His voice was abrupt, words barely able to form the nickname as he's rendered speechless.

Vas swallows something difficult to form in his throat and he nods, " _Güero_."

"What... what are you doing here?" Despite how he was frowning in confusion, there was that sparkle in his green eyes that Vas knew well enough to know Owen was happy to see him.

Vasquez looks over Owen's attire again and couldn't stop himself when he laughed, "You look like shit."

"Speak for yourself! You got _wrinkles_ now, old man!"

Vas laughed despite how cruel Owen made the comment sound like. He didn't sound like it was a joke, but there wasn't much fire behind the insult either, so Vas knows Owen wasn't exactly mad at him for showing up out of nowhere.

"Oh, still think you're so funny I see."

"Whatever," he snorts in response, Owen now swinging the door open all the way and stepping aside, "Come on in."

Vasquez nods in thanks and steps inside and finds the room is not surprisingly bland. Boring walls, cut cornered bedsheets neatly folded from Owen's years in the Navy. No TV, no photos, not even mail in sight. The living room only contained a couch and a coffee table.

He turns back to Owen, who shuts the door behind him and looks at him quizzically, "How did you find me?"

"Do you remember Sgt. Chisolm?" Vas might as well get straight to the point to avoid the question.

"Sam? Yeah, I remember that self-righteous son of a bitch," Owen chuckled, "Why?"

"He retired a couple of years after I left the Navy and now he's forming a bunch of ex-military and other types of soldiers for some dirty work the government wants to keep classified. It's completely legal, mind you, but he seems to be the only one willing to do the missions they were offering for the co-op."

"Okay...what does this have to do with me?" Owen frowned.

"I asked Sam to let me come and recruit you. The missions we're going on require your expertise and your knowledge of the area."

"You DO remember that I don't have much of that in my brain, right?"

"I wasn't talking about your intelligence," Vas grinned, "I was talking about your knowledge of Jurassic World."

The air turned into thick butter as Owen grew strangely quiet. Vasquez watched him curiously as Owen's lips turned into a tight, straight line with his arms crossed over his chest. His eyes turned cold, glaring at the other man while forcing the words out,

"You want me to go back to Isla Nublar?"

Vas shifts his stance to look slightly taller, a nervous gesture he always had, "Yes. We believe the Indominus Rex survived and is still terrorizing the island. Do you remember how intelligent she is?"

"How could I forget." He nearly growled.

"According to our surveillance, we believe that the asset is learning how to swim. If she succeeds and makes it to populated land..."

Owen walks off to his couch and sits before he loses his balance, running his hand through his hair in frustration, nodding in acknowledgment, "I get it, Vas... but what could I do? I nearly killed myself trying to kill the asset!"

When the Mexican didn't answer, Owen looks up to realize how nervous and antsy Vasquez looked, shifting his feet while clearing his throat, refusing to look Grady in the eye.

"Your... raptors."

Owen felt his face flush from color and he felt oddly cold. The very mention of his animals made his head feel like a cloud and his heart tightens in grief. His sudden tears felt blurry and warm while he struggles to swallow something down.

"My girls are dead, Vas."

Vasquez sighed, the sound of Owen's voice cracking as if it were under pressure hurt him a little. It hurt to see someone so strong crumble.

"Not... Not your Beta. Blue, right?"

Owen nods, "Yeah... I let her go. But it's been five years. And she's alone without her pack and sisters. I doubt she's still alive. Raptors have never hunted alone before, I doubt Blue survived by herself for over a year."

"But if she is alive, she is our best chance at finding the asset and destroying it."

Owen looks up, giving Vasquez a long, hard stare, trying to figure something out that seemed off before slowly asking one more time, "How _did_ you find me, again?"

Again, Vas grows quiet and nervously scratches the back of his neck, "...With help." He answers slowly.

Owen glares at him for the longest of time, trying to piece together what his ex wasn't telling him, then his eyes widen when he replayed Vasquez's words in the back of his mind.

"Oh, fuck no!" He yells, quickly standing back up and storming out of his own apartment.

He trudges down the stairs and storms out of the building, looking around wildly until his eyes land on a familiar figure leaning against a brick wall nearby. His jaw tightens and his eyes harden, "How the hell did you know where I live?"

Kathy's eyes widen for a second when she saw Owen, but she quickly hides it when Vasquez comes out and she lowers her gaze, "I knew you wouldn't go far and I knew you would look for a place you could afford, which isn't much. This neighborhood just screams you, I guess."

Owen curses under his breath, clenching his fists tighter, "Do you even know WHY he's here looking for me?"

She just shakes her head and looks up. Owen locks eyes with her and noticed the oblivious look etched on her face. He gives her the hard stare for many moments before he curses and turns back to Vasquez.

"If I go with, she's coming, too."

"What?" Kathy stands up straighter, frowning in confusion.

"She knows the area better than I do," Owen explained when Vas gave him a concerned look.

Vas looks between the two, debating on whether or not they'd get along if he were to bring both of them on this trip. Owen gives him a sincere look, almost in a begging manner, while Kathryn was getting a little frustrated when neither of them told her what exactly they were talking about.

"Will someone explain to me what the hell is going on?" She snaps, "What exactly do I know better than you, Grady?"

Vasquez sighs heavily and opens his mouth, "My team has reason to believe that the Indominus Rex survived and is still living in the park. We're dispatching a handful of men and women to Isla Nublar so we can exterminate it before she uses her intelligence to figure out how to swim and move to another highly populated area to hunt in."

The two men watch as they witness Kathy's face flush into a thin sheet of white, her figure seemed to look smaller as she scrunched her shoulders, visibly shivering. She turns to glare at Owen.

"Are you fucking insane? You want me to go back to that hell hole for a hunt that will obviously NOT go well? Did you forget how much I hate that place? Did you forget the last time I made the mistake of living there to get over my fear of it?!"

"Kathy..." Owen muttered slightly, not looking her in the eye as he spoke, "They want us to find Blue and have her track the Indominus down..."

Kathryn huffed expectedly like she was waiting to hear him say that, "Of course. Why else would they want us to come along? Blue is DEAD, Owen. I made peace with that a long time ago, and so should you. Besides, the last time Blue was able to kill the Indominus was because she had the T-Rex and the Mosasaur help her. And another thing, we wouldn't need a velociraptor to track an over fifty-foot monster. She tracks thermal radiation, so the damn beast would find us anyway!"

"Fifty feet?" Vasquez asked, bewildered and shock at that fact.

"That's right. The last time we saw her, she wasn't even fully grown. Imagine how much harder it would be to kill her now that she's an adult." Kathy snarled.

"Look, if you don't care about Blue, that's fine by me-!" Owen began with a dark frown. Kathy loses it.

"You don't think I care about Blue?!"

She screams like he just committed an outrageous crime and slowly she turns to Vasquez, a little red in the face but slowly her expression softens while she tries to figure something out while staring at Vas. She sighs, "I'm going with, but only to watch you all get yourselves killed in this suicide mission."

Owen inwardly grins, knowing he could persuade her into going back, then he turns to Vasquez, "Who else is going with Sam?"

Vasquez digs into the messenger bag he was carrying and took out some files, walking closer to the pair and handing the papers out to them, "Goodnight Robicheaux-!"

"Is that actually his real name?" Kathryn asked, furrowing her eyebrows while staring down at the said man's file, and sure enough, it was all legit.

"I heard about this guy. War hero, right?" Owen asked.

"Sniper. Retired army man." Vasquez nods and continues, "Billy Rocks, weapons specialist, mostly with knives. Red Harvest-!"

"Now that CAN'T be his real name," Kathryn interrupts again while flipping to the man's file, frowning, "Shit. It is."

"He's a military punk, really. Sam took the kid in." Vasquez replied, "Then we have our employers: Teddy Q and Emma Cullen. I bet you know her cousin... Claire Dearing?"

Owen and Kathryn pause and look up to stare at Vasquez with unfazed faces like they weren't surprised.

"You can say that."

"Well, Emma's husband was killed at Jurassic World when the asset escaped. She wants revenge and knows the Indominus is still alive, so she needs our help."

Owen nods, "So, when do we start?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 2?


	4. Think a Little Less

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pretty much what happens in my work, Make My World Go Black, but with Vas added into the mix

_Kiss a little more_   
_Think a little less_   
_Burning up the night like a cigarette_   
_And get you out of this bar_   
_Out of that dress_   
_And kiss a little more_   
_And kiss a little more_   
_Think a little less_   
_~Michael Ray_

The saloon was dead to the world, not many bodies were left keeping the place warm as people start slowly turning in for bed. No one blamed them, of course, because in two days Bogue's men were supposed to arrive. Everyone wanted to rest up, though everyone could silently agree that they might not get rest tonight, they all reluctantly left the saloon anyway. It got empty to the point that Faraday and Matilda were eventually alone, playing some round of cards across the table from each other, their hats put aside and small empty glasses faced down on the table.

Faraday found himself more distracted then he usually would during a card game. It was his last few nights, however, and he wanted to spend it practically smitten by the woman sitting across from him. His chin rests on the palm of his hand, he smiles with such an affinity the corners of his lips started to ache. He observed the way she was concentrating down at the cards in front of her, his own deck forgotten as they lay out across from him, so she was clearly cheating. But she wasn't making any complaints. Faraday's green eyes dazzled with admiration as her hair had been let out of today's hardworking braid and slightly curled over her shoulders. He could sacrifice one minute of letting the people of Rose Creek see this sheet of human in him. Usually, his face was stone cold, as a way of intimidating the folks around here, but for a moment he lets his guard down, staring at the independent woman he's been trying to woo since the day he met her.

"Tilda..."

She sighs, irritated with the nickname he had given her the first day they met, and ignores him, staring down at her cards thoughtfully. Faraday doesn't consider it, still smiling with a fondness so warm and inviting, she was missing out from not looking into his green eyes.

"Matilda..."

She pauses, not sure if she heard him right. She looked up to confirm that he, indeed, just said her real name for the first time, and when she does she finally noticed the stare he was blanketing her with. Her cheeks heat up slightly, the warm light of a tiny candle thankfully hiding it from view. They lock eyes and Faraday takes that as a sign to continue.

"Since I might die here...is it safe to tell you that you are the most beautiful woman I've ever met?"

Matilda's eyes only widen, her mouth opening and closing while trying to find something to say, but nothing comes out. She was astonished, to say the least, knowing Faraday enough to know that he isn't usually like this, and she thought that he might be drunk. But honestly, when is he not?

"You kill me." He said with such sincerity and praise, the endearment in his eyes made Tilda's stomach feel warm, like a cloud of honey.

Her neck heats up along with the rest of her face, her chest fighting for the air it lost only moments before. She makes a motion to get off her chair, and Faraday could've sworn that she was going to walk away. But instead, Matilda thought that walking around was too much work for her and pushed her cards aside as she climbed onto the table on all fours. She makes her way across, Faraday leaning back to watch, their eyes never leaving each other as she reaches him, her hand finding the back of his neck to bring him up for a tender, mesh of kisses. Smooth and perfectly fitting together, they kiss for the longest of time, without breath and she goes to slip off the table and into his lap. In the process, she knocks over his cards using her skirt and he finally breaks away from the more than enjoyable kiss to catch his breath and whine playfully,

"But I was winning..."

She lets out a breathy laugh, leaning down for another kiss, her breath hits his chin while she speaks for the first time since this started, "You don't consider this as a win?"

He most certainly did.

~~~~~~~~~

Vasquez noticed the soft looks Faraday and Matilda shared the next day, and he didn't know what he felt about it. He felt jealous for sure, but why? Was he jealous of the way Faraday looked at Matilda or the other way around? Or was it both? He felt his fist tighten over lunch when Matilda brushed her leg against Joshua's when they sat next to each other, but at the same time when Faraday brushes a hair out of her face, he feels like he might shoot Sam for calling them out on their flirting.

"Did you two have an intimate night or something?" He asks when he and Faraday are alone when setting up explosives.

Faraday looks up from prepping the charge, Vasquez purposely looking away while he reaches up into the doorway to set up some wiring. Joshua stares at the back of his head, trying to figure out what that tone in the Mexican's voice was. He could detect the hostility and wonder whatever for. He looks back down at the charge, ignoring the cigar he had propped in his mouth.

"Yes and no. We didn't wake up together if that's what you're thinking. That's not much of her reputation than it is mine."

Vas' back muscles visibly stiffened and Faraday sees this from the corner of his eye. He takes this into consideration, and then he shrugs, throwing the cigar at Vasquez's sleeve so he would turn and glare at him. The Irishman smirks when the Mexican complies to the action by stomping out the smoke with his boot. Joshua walks over, discarding the charge so he could stand close to Vas, close enough that Vasquez could feel his breath against his cheek as he leaned in to whisper in his ear.

"It would've been much better if you were there with us."

Vasquez turned his head towards him to question what the hell that meant, but it was a move Faraday was waiting for and took the opportunity to melt his mouth into the Mexican's.

Vasquez almost backs away out of the instinct of being ambushed, but instead, he just froze, letting the kiss go on for a few more moments. Finally, he closes his eyes, letting his own lips move and that gives the answer Faraday was looking for and he pulls away, grinning triumphantly.

"Wow."

Vas chuckles, "And Matilda?"

"Are you kidding? She's _smitten_ by you! Didn't you see her gawking at you in just your undershirt yesterday?" Faraday is rewarded by a laugh from the other man.

~~~~~~~~~

It wasn't until after the Battle of Rose Creek did both Vasquez and Faraday notice that Matilda was missing amongst the survivors.

"Tilda?!" Vasquez yells while running around after the gunshots were completely over, jogging past dead bodies as the survivors have yet to reemerge. It was dead quiet across the battlefield, even the wind has died down to let the stench rise.

Faraday hops off his horse after he had come back across the field from blowing up the Gatling gun and looks around, clutching his side but momentarily forgot about it as he panics inwardly, "TILDA?!"

"In here!"

It was Sam's voice, not Matilda's, and it drives Vasquez's blood to grow cold. Himself and Faraday come piling into a building looted with bullet holes in every inch of its rotten wood. When they storm inside, Goodnight and Sam were kneeling down beside Tilda's body, Chisolm's collar loose to reveal scars all over his neck but he could care less about his appearance at the moment.

" _Oh Dios_ _mío_ ," Vasquez mutters, his voice comes out almost in a weak pitch as he and Faraday ran over to her.

"Tilda!" Faraday kneeled down beside Goodnight, looking at Sam, "What happened?" He demands while noting that Matilda's head was bleeding.

"We were taking cover from the Gatling gun and she fell and hit her head," Sam explained calmly while Goodnight busies himself with bandaging Matilda's head and making sure she still had a pulse.

" _Güera_ ," Vasquez spoke gently while carefully maneuvering himself to kneel down beside the woman's head, petting her hair out of her face, " _Güera_ , wake up."

"Come on, sweetheart. Please wake up," Faraday muttered.

The five other voices that continued to encourage her to wake up get her to open her eyes, and regretted it instantly when a painful migraine rushes through her head from her sensitivity to light at the moment. She closes her eyes again and groans in pain, making enough movement to let her friends know she was alive.

"Tilda," Faraday sighed out of relief, Vas' muscles loosen noticeably out of the corner of his eye. Joshua leans down to kiss her bloody hairline, whispering in her ear that was loud enough for only his two lovers to hear.

"I love you. I love both of you."

~~~~~~~~~

Months after the battle of Rose Creek, Sam and his band of misfits have left the small and lovely town some time ago to find new trouble in other states. At the moment, the Magnificent Seven -technically eight- were in Kansas, due to Sam's request. He wanted to go back to his hometown for a few weeks to gather up some free supplies, and when they got there, Chisolm was devastated to learn that the town had been taken by a gang of outlaws. Only seeing red, Sam and his team lay out a plan of attack, and now they were in the middle of an all-out gunfight.

Faraday had lost sight of Vasquez and Matilda a while back, and it drove panic right through his heart. He and Vas had finally fully healed from their Rose Creek wounds a couple of weeks ago, and the very thought that his lovers could be in trouble again made Joshua want to rampage all throughout town just to find them.

When the fighting had started to die down, Faraday found Matilda fighting side by side with Billy, the two of them out of bullets and finishing off the rest of the outlaws with knives. Faraday ran over and quickly fires at one man who was about to attack Tilda. She looked over her shoulder after the man laid dead and smiled, the battle was now finished. She had walked over to Faraday and placed his hat back on his head after it had been knocked off. She had kissed him on the mouth in thanks and looked around, "Where's Ale?"

Joshua looks around, "Vasquez!" He called out, "Vas! Where are you, hombre?!"

After a long time -which felt like hours- Tilda and Faraday were starting to panic when they couldn't find their own outlaw. Bodies scattered the ground and every once in a while, Matilda will lose her breath when she thinks she found a dead man that looks like her Mexican.

Faraday had been shouting Vasquez's name for so long and so loud that his throat had dried up and cracked, the gambler coughing every so often. There's a distant yell and both Josh and Tilda snap their heads over in the direction where the voice came from and saw a figure limping towards them. Faraday sprints into a run towards the figure.

"Oh shit, Vas!"

Vasquez, running towards him in a limp suddenly collapses to his knees, out of breath and out of strength while he painfully grabs his bleeding right shoulder that he earned from a gun. When Faraday reached him, instead of helping him up, the Irishman falls to his knees and brings the other man in for a crushing hug, burying his face in the crook of Vasquez's neck so no one could detect that he was close to tears.

Over and over, when Matilda walked up, she could hear Faraday repeating how much he loved Vasquez and Matilda and so on. Even though the praise was lovely, Vasquez couldn't help but look up at his female lover with a shit-eating grin,

" _Me gusta como_ _él_ _siempre dice que nos ama_ _cada_ _vez_ _que_ _casi_ _morimos_."

"Whatever you just said, I completely agree," Faraday mutters into Vas' shirt.

Matilda laughs, falling to her knees to wrap her arms around Josh and Vas and kisses the outlaw's cheek, " _Sí_."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation: I like how he always says he loves us every time we almost die.


	5. Knives Over Cards

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short but sweet. I kind of like the dynamic duo Matilda and Billy have in 'Make My World Go Black' so I dive into it more here

Matilda was sitting on the rug of the Mag Seven's summer cabin, her back leaning up against the couch standing tall behind her. She had her knees tucked close to her chest so she had something to prop a book up, reading scripture she's probably read a hundred times before. The cabin was quiet at the moment. A beautiful day such as this catches her boys' attention. Red Harvest, Jack, and Sam went hunting out in the woods, Goodnight was out in the yard, either doing the laundry or smoking a pipe on the front porch, most likely falling asleep on the rocking chair outside.

She thought Billy would be with him, or maybe he had been, but now she hears movement coming inside the cabin and shuffling in the kitchen. A few moments later, the couch sinks right behind her and she almost jumps out of her skin but thought she should know better since Billy is known for stealth.

They didn't share any words as her friend nonchalantly unties her hair from the messy bun she put together that morning. Billy is always the friend she goes to for hair advice, and he didn't use words as an answer. He always showed her by using his own hair as an example. Matilda's always admired Billy's killer hairpin ruse. And maybe she's tried it herself a couple of times, either way, her and Billy bonded over that.

After Rose Creek, the two were considered partners in crime. Granted, they weren't as close as Billy and Goody were, but nonetheless, they fought flawlessly side by side. One time, the team walked into town... right in the middle of a gunfight. Halfway through, Tilda had lost her gun and was hiding behind the wood posts holding up the porch of the local bank, gunfire being shot out of the doorway and digging into the wood she hid behind. She couldn't escape, and then suddenly there's a knife right above her head, the blade digging into the post. She looked over to find Billy busying himself with slicing at a bandit, and it makes Matilda grin. She takes the knife and just as her gun-wielding pursuer comes running out of the bank, she swings around out of her hiding place and slices at his neck.

He's also willing to help her learn his native tongue. As he's braiding her hair, Matilda finds some words in her book and shows it to Billy, asking him how he says them in Korean. He'll say them, and she repeats the phrase a couple of times.

They were easily best friends, and it pissed Faraday off.

But he doesn't know why. He knows Tilda is loyal to him and Vas, and he knows Billy would never stab Goody in the back -or else Sam and he would stab him in return- so he doesn't know why seeing those two together made his blood boil.

Today was no exception. He walks down the stairs from his room up in the attic and witnessed the scene of Billy sitting on the couch with Matilda sitting on the floor in front of him. As she's fully concentrated on the book, the assassin is threading and combing his fingers through her hair, and for some reason that irritated Faraday. He loved both of his lover's hair. Vasquez's dark, curly and short locks, then Matilda's long, thick, golden brown waves. His favorite thing to do was brush his fingers around their hair, no matter what, so he quickly gets possessive if he finds Billy sticking his fingers in _his_ Tilda's hair.

Joshua coughs in the doorway and both Billy and Matilda look up. Immediately, she recognizes his cold stare and rolls her eyes.

"Learn how to braid, then maybe I'll let you play with my hair more."

Faraday frowns and then turns his head to look at the other man in the room, "Billy, will you teach me?"

"No."

"What? Why?" Joshua nearly jumps like he had been bitten.

"I believe there's YouTube for that now."

~~~~~~~~~

Eventually, Faraday gets the hang of it; braiding, and soon found himself braiding Matilda's hair all the time. Unfortunately, her hair started to get brittle and have split ends, so he found it his sole purpose and duty to find other ways to braid her hair.

Now, every night as he and everyone else watch TV before bed, he always sits behind Matilda to French braid her hair, Vasquez watching in amusement and fondness because it was very rare for Faraday to go out of his way to do such a sweet and lovely gesture.

All it does is make Billy roll his eyes.


	6. Not a Day Goes By

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Songfic! (Warning: Triggers, suicide attempt, death, depression)

_Not a day goes by that I don't think of you_   
_I'm always asking why this crazy world had to lose_   
_Such a ray of light we never knew_   
_Gone too soon, yeah_   
_~Daughtry_

~~~~~~~~~

It hasn't been the same. It's almost been a year and things weren't even close to getting back to normal.

Faraday realizes this, taking another swig of his drink while pacing in his bedroom. A year has gone by and still, no one bothers to even mutter a word about it. The seven men are dead quiet whenever their female counterpart's name is even mentioned.

_Today could have been the day,_   
_That you blow out your candles,_   
_Make a wish as you close your eyes._

_Today could have been the day,_   
_Everybody was laughing,_   
_Instead I just sit here and cry,_

The date was, of course, a date not even Sam wants to mention. Matilda's birthday... the first of many that she wouldn't be here to celebrate.

_Who would you be?_   
_What would you look like,_   
_When you looked at me for the very first time?_   
_Today could have been the next day of the rest of your life._

Joshua looked on, out the window and to Rose Creek. After the incident, Sam decided for the team that in order to heal, they needed to call a place home for a while, and of course, the small town that owed them a great amount of gratitude will always be called home to them.

_Not a day goes by,_   
_That I don't think of you,_   
_I'm always asking why this crazy world had to lose,_   
_Such a ray of light we never knew,_   
_Gone too soon, yeah._

Faraday didn't exactly agree with that statement. He was a bigger mess about his loss more than anyone, and maybe it was because he blamed himself. He couldn't call anyplace home when a part of his home that he had kept in his heart was gone.

_Would you have been president_   
_Or a painter, an author, or sing like your mother?_   
_One thing is evident,_   
_Would've given all I had,_   
_Would've loved you like no other._

_Who would you be,_   
_What would you look like,_   
_Would you have my smile and her eyes?_   
_Today could have been the next day of the rest of your life._

It was his fault, he had said so, so many times. The gunfight... it should've been him. The team had been at a small supply station, and of course, Faraday smelled trouble and dove right into it. The team was spread out, taking time off from the rest of their gang before they kill each other. Matilda had taken it upon herself to stay by Faraday's side to keep him out of trouble, grabbing some supplies while she was at it. She had turned her back for a second, then spun around when she had heard a gunshot.

_Not a day goes by,_   
_That I don't think of you,_   
_I'm always asking why this crazy world had to lose,_   
_Such a ray of light we never knew,_   
_Gone too soon, yeah._

Joshua couldn't even blink as he suddenly finds himself in the middle of a gunfight, ducking down behind a couple of rain barrels, both of his pistols in hand. He was grinning from ear to ear since he had been itching for a fight for weeks. He was enjoying himself, laughing while having a good time...

Then he heard an unnatural yelp from behind him. It almost sounds as though a small animal was in pain, and as he turned around he felt his blood run cold and his denial kicks in.

She was lying on the ground at an angle no human should physically lay in. Blood covered the whole right side of her torso, her eyes were gazing off at the sky, unresponsive.

That image will haunt his memory forever.

And now, looking back, he might even imagine that it was probably one of _his_ bullets that had bounced off and killed her. He kept replaying that image over and over, and he had grown paranoid enough to think maybe _he_ shot her while his adrenaline was pumping. Today, of all days, he couldn't stand to think that. He couldn't stand to think at all, or breathe, or talk, or make rational decisions. He couldn't even stand to _live_.

And so, he sees one of the only things he had left of his Tilda resting on the table. Her gun.

_Not a day goes by,_   
_Oh_   
_I'm always asking why._   
**_Oh..._ **

" _Güero_?" Vasquez had come looking for Faraday to see if he was interested in any lunch. Usually, the answer was always the same but he thought he might as well ask. He makes it to their room to find the door closed, and turns the knob, but pauses when he hears something.

A significant _click_.

He quickly opens the door and screams, " _GÜERO_!!"

_Not a day goes by,_   
_That I don't think of you,_   
_I'm always asking why this crazy world had to lose,_   
_Such a beautiful light we never knew,_   
_Gone too soon,_   
_You were gone too soon_   
_Yeah._

Vas was able to wrestle the loaded gun out of Faraday's hand and push him to the ground, the gambler barely putting up a fight as he finally breaks down into weak sobs. After several minutes of Vas just pinning Josh to the ground, the Mexican makes sure that the gun has been pushed out of his lover's reach before he lets him back up. He pulls the bigger man to rest his back against his chest, Vasquez holding onto Faraday's torso for dear life as his voice grew frantic,

" _Idiota_! That is only a coward's way out!" He yells with a broken voice, more of lecturing Faraday than screaming at him. His voice croaks, laced with heartbreak and relief that he was able to stop his lover in time. He had barely noticed that there were tears running down his own face.

_Not a day goes by,_   
_That I don't think of you._ _.._

"I am a coward..." Faraday admits, mumbling other incoherent things. Vasquez was able to make out only a few other words, "It was my fault... I killed her."

"It wasn't you," he's quick to reassure, "The bullet that killed her wasn't one of yours. It belonged to a rifle. It wasn't you, _güero_... it wasn't you..."

Faraday's crying had stopped, but he had begun to shake, "You must hate me... and you have every right to. I took her from you. If it wasn't for me she would still be here. She understood you better than me, she could even talk to you in Spanish better than me. She was the reason that you and I could always make up after a fight... She was ours, and now she's gone. She's fucking gone and it's all my fault." He ducks his head, "You have every right to leave me for pulling you into this hell hole."

Vasquez's heart tightens painfully, his tears still running down his face as he brought Faraday closer to him, kissing the side of his head while whispering anything and everything he could think of in his ear.

He could still remember that day clearly next to Faraday. That day at the supply station, he decided to stick with Sam and Red since those two shouldn't even be left alone in a strange town, and having a bounty hunter by your side couldn't hurt. One moment, they were looking for some smokes and food to bring along for their trip, and then the next they hear guns firing and men yelling.

"What in the...?" Sam walks out of the building to see what was going on, Red Harvest reaching for his arrows out of instinct, Vas resting his hand on his pistol. When Sam comes back inside, he looks almost panicked.

"We have to go. Faraday needs our help."

Vasquez didn't need to be told twice as he's the first to go running across town to reach Joshua. As the gunshots grew louder, Vas knew he would be closer to Faraday. As he rounds the corner, he doesn't even take in the scene enough to know what has happened. He shoots two people before he realized that Faraday wasn't even shooting anymore, or saying a single word. He had turned around to find out why, and he could've sworn that he didn't utter a word, but Goody tells him that he had screams leaving his lips when he saw Matilda lying dead on the ground, and the wind leaves him like a kick to the gut.

Faraday was holding her, or what's left of her. He looked grim, a shadow passing through his eyes while his bloody hand trailed through her hair. It wasn't a sight Vas couldn't stand to see in his nightmares anymore.

Vas still cradles Faraday on the floor of their room, taking off both of their hats as he tries to soothe the other man, "I don't hate you for what happened, _güero_. I could never hate you nor could I ever leave you. It was an accident. And as much as I loved her...I love you, too... So no. I'm not ever leaving you."

_"Y_ _eso_ _es una_ _promesa_ _..."_


	7. Werewolf AU!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matilda lives in what she calls a 'cottage' in the middle of nowhere and suddenly finds herself being surrounded by a small pack of wolves. Also, this is a crossover to another movie, and no, it has nothing to do with werewolves. So you can cross off Twilight or Teen Wolf. Can you guess what movie it is?

She's been told how big the wolf activity is higher up in the mountains, and so she decided on buying that abandoned cabin in that _very_ territory, miles away from the nearest town. That way, nobody would even bother visiting her.

Matilda knew she was crazy, but at the same time she was trying to avoid detection, so if she wanted a fresh start, then she better make the best of whatever she can get.

Living in what she considers to be a log cabin all by herself in the middle of the forest, with snowy mountains practically glaring over her wasn't exactly a place she wanted to call home, but she knew she couldn't stop it now. She had to make the most of it, but she had to admit:

Feeding a stray wolf wasn't exactly the brightest thing she's ever done.

She remembered it to be a very early morning, the heavy mist blanketing the field of dead wheat outside, making the forest wall beyond look eery and horrific. Tilda watched the morning from inside her home, peering out from the window just above the kitchen sink. She was sipping on some bland coffee, trying to decide on what to do for the day, then she spots it.

Red fur.

Not fully red. From what she can tell, it wasn't dark enough to even be considered red. Its fur could even be called orange from what she could see. And what she thought could just be a huge fox, was most definitely a wolf. It had a brighter underbelly, and a little rough around the edges, with a blond snout with a pure black nose.

It was wandering all alone, just on the edge of the woods, sniffing out something while it pawed at the ground once in a while. As she watched it was around the same time she sets down her mug, and with a _clink_ the wolf's head perks up at the same exact moment she lets her coffee go.

She sucked in a breath as the wolf noticed her staring through the window. It tilts its head at her, maybe out of curiosity, then in a flash, it disappears into the forest.

Matilda was a little tired that day, and so she uses that as an excuse as to why she thought to leave some raw meat out on her porch was a good idea. A little _'don't hunt me please and I'll feed you in return'_ offering.

The next day, it comes back, and it does take that little peace offering, so she leaves more out.

The next day is the same. The wolf comes all the way up to her porch and eats before disappearing again, and so Tilda repeats this new routine of feeding her new friend.

But the week after, she looks out her window and finds _two_ wolves. The first one is definitely the one she's been seeing around, but the second one is new.

This wolf is maybe a little bit smaller, but still big for a normal wolf nonetheless. Its coat looked all blond, almost pure white besides the usual dirt covering something that lives out in the forest. As the orange one approaches her porch, Matilda notes that its friend is a little more cautious in doing so. But once the white wolf makes it up to the front steps, it tilts its head once the orange wolf indicates to the fresh bit of meat Matilda now leaves out every morning.

Considering that the white wolf was skinnier, she kind of found it heartwarming with the fact that her orange wolf was now feeding clearly hungry animals. At first, the white dog doesn't eat it, but after a couple insisting snarls from the orange one, the new wolf eats it all and then they leave, clearly satisfied. Tilda felt a little proud to watch that happen.

The next day, there are now FOUR wolves!

The next two are much bigger than the other ones she's seen around. One looked similar to her orange wolf, but instead, this wolf had dark red, almost brown fur, with no speck of white on him. He was the biggest out of all four of the wolves, and Tilda had easily mistaken him for a bear!

The fourth and final wolf, the one that tends to stick to his bear-of-a-friend's side was tall, even on all fours, but looked just as underfed as the white wolf. Its fur looked all black, maybe with a few shades of dark brown, and it tends to show its fangs off a lot more than the others. Between the four wolves, the black one was nasty and looked cruel. This one loved to dote on the orange wolf the most since the orange one had quite the stubborn personality in Tilda's opinion. If wolves even have personalities that is.

Tilda couldn't help but notice that all four were males. What an odd pack of wolves, unless it was only the males coming up to the house and taking the food to bring back to the females and pups.

The four beasts stuck around after that, only approaching the house when Tilda wasn't home or when she's left out food. Other than that, they camp out on the edge of the woods, but they never strayed too far. Matilda had grown worried about their behavior. She was so sure that they were sticking around for the perfect opportunity to kill her, but at the same time, she also thought she was being ridiculous.

For six straight weeks, since she had first seen the orange wolf, this went on, and Tilda comes to terms that the wolves weren't there to eat her, though she doesn't exactly know the reason they stay. She gladly lets them stay around. She even let them into the house on a storming night, but even then she kept her distance. She had her bedroom door locked while they lounged around out in the living room. She wasn't _that_ crazy to just let them roam freely around her home at the dead of night. All the same, she woke up that morning to find that they've already left, so she considers them respectable.

Despite how bad of an idea it was, she names them. The white one she calls Gipsy Danger, despite how it was male. Gipsy seemed to be tough, despite the size, and it had eyes that felt as if he's been through a lot more than he's led on.

His joined-at-the-hip friend was the orange one, _her_ wolf in Tilda's opinion since he found her first. Striker Eureka seemed to be a fitting name for him, fitting his mean exterior and swift actions.

The black one she calls Outlaw because god damn is he ever. He seems to follow his pack around at a certain amount of distance as if personal space was important to him. In the pack, he's always at the rear, seemingly paranoid as he's always looking over his shoulder.

The Alpha; she's sure is the red one, Matilda calls Gambit. She names him after a Marvel character, but also because the red one appears to be quite the gambler when it comes to life. He's the rebel of the bunch and gambles on a lot of things, like that one time he pondered over Tilda's couch. One tilt of his head and he was wondering if the small, old furniture would be able to withstand the weight of four overgrown wolves. He decides with a sort of _'fuck it'_ gesture and went for it. The conclusion of this story is that Matilda needs a new couch.

She's even started talking to them, calling them out by name and they comply gladly, tongues lolling at the side of their mouths as a pet dog would.

"Gambit," she whistles one afternoon, after watching the four of them wrestle around in the grass from her porch. The big Alpha practically comes trotting up to her at her beckoning and nuzzles its huge head into her stomach, grunting with a wag of his tail.

"You're an attention-getter, aren't you buddy?" She coos softly while scratching behind his ears. He pants out of happiness and Matilda only looks up when she hears a whine, noting that Striker had bounded up to the pair at some point. Tilda only rolls her eyes playfully, "You're an attention- _seeker_. There's a difference."

Gambit grunts like he was in agreement, and wore a wolfish grin when he pulled his head away to look at the younger misfit with similar fur. They share a growl and suddenly all four pairs of ears perk up at the sound of a car engine.

Before Tilda could process anything, all four blurs of fur disappear into the woods. When she looks up, a car is slowly pulling into view, and it makes her blood run cold. No one should know she lived up here, not even the locals in the nearby town.

As the car parks and a group of menacing men climb out, she fears the worst. She stands up the minute one of them opens the back car door and out steps a familiar face, and she feels herself starting to shake.

"Hey, baby," the grin is wide and snake-like, as the main man has one hand on his belt to present the gold buckle and the gun strapped to his side.

"Bogue," she mutters to refrain herself from stuttering, "How did you find me?"

"I'll always have ways of finding you, dear. Did you really think you could hide from me?" Bartholomew Bogue walks around the car to inch closer to her, and slowly her feet start to shuffle nervously, "This is a beautiful place, Matilda. I must admit, you were very good at finding the most secluded place. It was almost impossible to find you... almost."

Bogue's goons, the Blackstones, started surrounding Matilda as they slowly and menacingly started reaching for their weapons. Bogue just smiled and continued.

"Now. We're gonna do this nice and easy. You know what I do to the people that try to leave. So, I'm giving you a choice since you've been so good to me, darling. Either you come back, or you get shot. It's that simple." He shrugs nonchalant, smiling as his men slowly circle around Matilda.

The woman's breaths grow shallow as her head spins in all directions at each of the men ready to practically pounce her. She feels the metal hidden underneath her shirt digging into her skin, and decided that she needed to act fast, or die.

Before they could blink, Matilda was holding a gun in her hand and there was a loud ringing in their ears. In a split second, one of the Blackstone agents was on the ground, a bleeding bullet wound running through his brain.

The other men draw their guns and aim them at Matilda, the woman frozen to the spot as her eyes widen at the sight of the man she had shot. No one moved, as the men were just waiting on Bogue's orders. Bart just stood there, squinting his eyes while studying Tilda, her breathing had gone ragged and her shoulders shook in the chilly weather. He only gives a curt nod, and so his men take the safety off their weapons.

But before they could even fire, a man's scream and the snarling of a wild beast mix into the thin air, and chaos breaks out as a small pack of wolves attack and tear down the men. Screams of agony and the tearing of clothes fills Tilda's ears, but when instinct kicks in and she moves back to retreat into the house, she trips over the front porch steps and falls. As she flips around to lie on her back, a specific color caught her eye.

Orange.

Matilda watched as Striker tore one man apart, while beside him Outlaw was playing with his food and only tenderizing the meat of his prey with tiny bites. Only Bogue and one of his henchmen were able to get away, getting into the car and driving off, leaving the others behind to their fates.

Matilda was shaken to move on her own, seeing the blood scattered around her front yard. When she felt a hand on her shoulder, she made an effort to scream but quickly stops when she's met with dark, electric blue eyes.

A young man in a tight white tank top and mountain shorts knelt in front of her. His cleanly cut blond hair was gelled and stuck in different directions, and a few days worth of blond hairs littered his face. He appeared small around the neck and legs but turned out to be completely built in the middle section.

"Ma'am, are you okay?" He asked.

Matilda was stunned to see this man all the way out here. She knew he wasn't a Blackstone because of his clothes, but still, she had never seen him before. Then, she remembered where she was and what had just happened.

"The wolves..." Then she saw movement behind the man and she panicked, "Look out!"

As he moved out of the way, the man didn't appear alarmed, as Matilda suddenly realized that the wolves were gone, and now three other men were standing in the middle of all the dead bodies and the blood. They wore the same similar attire as the guy kneeling next to Tilda, but they all looked very different. But what really struck her, was the hair colors that looked very familiar.

Black, with dark brown patches.

Red, almost dark brown locks.

And finally, light orange, almost white hair.

Matilda wondered if she had hit her head on the way down from her fall because now she sees similarities in these men that she's seen in her wolves. She feels sick as she looked at each and every one of their faces.

"Wh... What the hell?" She gasps, suddenly growing dizzy and blacking out.

~~~~~~~~~

It's been a couple of weeks since Matilda woke up on her couch after Bogue attacked her, and her memory suddenly recalls four young men, each of which had small resemblances to the four male wolves she had recently befriended. Ever since then, she had been determined to find them. She didn't know if it was because she wanted to thank them for saving her life, or that she wanted to demand answers from them. She was certain she knew what she saw, and those men were once wolves.

She went into town for the first time since she's arrived there, putting up a couple of missing posters with very well drawn out portraits of the men, then she went to the local library, one of the very few places in town with internet access.

She Googled a lot of information, about men sharing the same features as wolves, and then very quickly, the topic of _werewolves_ is mentioned several times throughout her search. Almost every website Matilda visits have at least one mention to the supernatural lore, and eventually, despite how she wanted to find another solution, sadly werewolves was the only one that strangely made sense.

Matilda got up and left before anyone started asking questions. It was a small town after all, and everyone knew each other, all except Tilda. She wouldn't have to worry about Bogue for a while since, for all he knew, she was eaten by mutts, but the townsfolk would start getting suspicious and then eventually Bogue will hear about the lonely woman who lives up in the mountains with the animals.

Speaking of which, Matilda hasn't seen her small pack of wolves since the incident, making her believe that they have been scared off from the fight, or maybe they have moved on, knowing now that they couldn't ever come back now that Tilda knew their secret.

But her questions would finally be answered one dark and rainy night. She was making some hot tea on the kettle, staring out the window to spot the silhouette of trees through the thick blanket of raindrops. She stares at the monster of forests with intensity, deep in thought as she wondered what the hell happened to her dogs.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the pounding of the door echoing amongst the thunder outside. Matilda nearly jumps out of her skin, and the first thing she does is grab her gun and tuck it behind her pants again. She slowly makes it to the door and hesitates over the handle, before taking a deep breath and swinging it open.

It was one of her men, her _wolves_. He was one of the taller ones, hovering over her and pretty much blocking the entire doorway with his large build. He had dark brown/red hair and a scruff for a red beard, intense, sparkling green eyes looking down at Matilda through the darkness. The physical features alone gave it away as to which of her wolves Tilda was looking at.

" _Gambit_?" She gasps, and it surprises her that out of all the things she could have said, the pet name she had given him was all she could muster?

But the man, Gambit doesn't seem to mind, and he answers the name with a smile, "Good. You seem to have adjusted. No time to explain, but we need your help."

" _We_?" Tilda echoed.

Gambit steps aside to show what could only be Striker and Gipsy, holding up and supporting a clearly injured Outlaw. Through his black hair, blood was running down Outlaw's olive skin and onto his face, disappearing within his dark beard. His eyes were closed, and he was moaning while leaning onto the clearly younger two men, his left leg being held up in the air.

"Oh my god..." Matilda bit her lip, knowing how stupid she would be to believe a ruse such as this and then let four men into a house where she lived alone. But on the other hand, that bone sticking out of Outlaw's leg looked pretty convincing to her, and so she made the executive decision to open the door wide to her guests, "Put him on the couch," she instructs.

The blonde young man on the left of Outlaw, the one who had steadied Tilda weeks before during the incident, had to be Gipsy Danger. He wore a cunning smile as she lets them in. The man on the other side of Outlaw, however, had to be Striker Eureka judging by how he only firmly nods in thanks as both he and Gipsy struggle through the door in order to bring their wounded friend inside.

Then, the strangest thing, Matilda found herself working alongside Gambit to find her first aid kit in the kitchen. Almost in sync, they moved around one another gracefully while trying to avoid the island countertop and from bumping into each other.

Once she had found the first aid kit, Matilda had Gambit follow her back out of the kitchen and into the living room, whereby now Outlaw was settled and laid out over the new couch Tilda had gotten after Gambit's adventure with her first one.

Tilda knelt down by Outlaw's leg, inspecting the broken bone before she looked up at Gambit, who stood above her. She wasn't touching or treating the wound until she found out what caused it.

"Can I ask what happened?"

"I wasn't there," was all he said before he looked behind Tilda and raised his eyebrows, "Chuck?"

Matilda looked over her shoulder to realize that Striker, her wolf, answered to that name, "We were scouting and I think it was a bear trap. The clutz hit his head on a rock on the way down." To her astonishment, Chuck had an Australian accent.

" _Vete a la mierda_." Outlaw muttered darkly through his pain, Tilda turning back to him at the sound of his own, Spanish accent. In response, she gave him a pitied look and sighed.

"We need to pop it back in place."

" _Maldición!_ "

~~~~~~~~~

After drugging Outlaw and putting his leg back in place, Tilda had bandaged and splintered the limb and made sure the man in pain was out like a light before she stopped healing him and stood up. Looking up at the other three men, she tilts her head towards the door and coaches them into a separate room, crossing her arms in front of her once they left Outlaw alone to rest.

"Now, here's my deal before you think you can just go and be on your merry way once he's better: He's going to be here, stuck, for four weeks at the very minimum, so either give me the silent treatment or tell me what the hell is going on. _Who_ are you guys and _what_ are you?"

"Y'think she would have figured it out by now." Striker muttered to Gipsy.

"I am not stupid, Striker!" She yelled, "Or _Chuck_ or whatever the hell you go by! I'm just making sure that you're a werewolf and not a familiar."

"Sorry?" Gipsy asked.

"Familiars are like werewolves, but they're humans that can change into house pets, like dogs, obviously, but they usually hang around witches." Matilda explained, earning some weird looks and so she slowly responded, "...I got curious after what happened, so I googled."

Chuck scoffed, looking away irritably, locking eyes with Gambit, "I say we go."

"And leave Vas here?" The leader frowned, "Quit being an idiot. She's helping us. You were the one who found her after all."

At this Matilda and Chuck exchange glares and look in different directions, Tilda still looking cross when staring at Gambit, "This still doesn't clear up WHO you are."

In turn, Gambit extended his hand for her to shake, and she does so while he introduced himself, "I'm Joshua Faraday. You already met Chuck Hansen and Raleigh Becket,"

Tilda looks back to the blonde and he nods with a smile at his name, before she turned back to _Joshua_ , "And _Vas_?"

"Alejandro Vasquez."

"Ah," Matilda nods, "Nice to meet you."

Raleigh shakes her hand after Faraday and looked slightly bashful while staring at her, "Sorry, ma'am, but uh... what's _your_ name? As wolves we, I don't know, never really got around to asking for it."

This stuns Matilda for a moment, tilting her head slightly at Raleigh before she found herself laughing, "It's Matilda Crawford. But Tilda's fine."

Seeing as that she was already asking to be addressed by a nickname, the boys knew that they were making progress with their new human friend. She looks between the three of them with a curious look after being acquainted with them, "So, how old are you guys? Are you brothers or something?"

"Not in blood, no," Raleigh decides to take the lead in answering Tilda's questions, "Just brothers of the same pack. Chuck here is the youngest, I come next and then Vas and Josh here are the same age."

"Awfully small group for a pack," Matilda verbally observed to them, "No females?"

"We used to," Raleigh answered, "Mako, Chuck's sister-!"

"Y' mean your little girlfriend?" Chuck sassed in response.

Raleigh rolled his eyes, "-Lives in Japan now. And my sister Jazmine is at home in Alaska."

"How many more are you?"

"Depends on what you mean by that," Faraday grins, showing that familiar, troublesome twinkle in his eye that Tilda remembers from when he was a wolf, "Vas and I are from a different pack altogether, but we had separated from them to start one of our own."

Matilda nods before turning to Raleigh with raised eyebrows, "And you and _him_?"

Chuck snarled slightly while Raleigh answered, "Also from a different pack. My brother and his old man knew each other."

Tilda worries her lip while taking all of this information in, always looking between the three of them and never settling on just one man, "So I thought werewolves couldn't transform unless it was a full moon?"

Chuck just snorts, "You watch too much Harry Potter, don't you?"

She glares in response, "I don't own a TV so no, it's been a while."

"Well, those are only the bitten weres," Faraday informed, "The four of us were born this way, so we can change whenever."

"Great, great, now you know everything about us," Chuck dejected, unfolding his arms while glaring at the only woman in the room, "Now, do we kill her or threaten to keep her mouth shut?"

" _Excuse me?_ " She hissed in response, her entire posture stiffened with the most defensive stance, "Okay, listen here you little shit!"

All three pairs of werefolk eyes widen in response to the first time ever hearing Matilda raise her voice in a threatening tone. And since they have sensitive hearing, her yelling wasn't pleasant.

"This is _my_ house, so _my_ rules! I have been feeding you and your little buddies here for _weeks_! I have trusted you NOT to eat me as I have let you into my house under MANY circumstances such as this one! And something tells me that you don't mean _anything_ you say about me because even if you are a real jackass, you care for my well being because not only have you let me into your personal space for those belly rubs you _very_ well insist on, but you saved my life by a man who's beaten me in the past to get what he wants! And if you're going to be staying here until Español over there gets better, than _you're_ going to have to show a little bit of respect!"

The room grows insanely quiet as the three weres just stare at Matilda. Feeling a little uncomfortable under their gaze, she shifts her feet and looks down at the floor, but it doesn't last long before she hears Gipsy-- Raleigh speak.

"You want us to stay here?"

She looks up to give him an odd look, almost like the answer was obvious, "Of course...? You wouldn't want to leave Vasquez all alone while he heals, do you? And..." she feels her cheeks start to feel warm as she mutters the last part, despite how good of hearing her new guests have, "I feel safer around the four of you."

~~~~~~~~~

And so, a quick friendship was formed, even though Vasquez wasn't too pleased when he woke up. It wasn't the fact that he didn't mind sleeping in a stranger's house, wolf or not, he just wouldn't be able to shift with his leg being broken for a while.

Raleigh and Chuck were like two peas in a pod, always going outside and being wild from sun up to sun down, only coming back to eat and shower. Tilda can see why Chuck and Faraday force feed the other two smaller weres a lot, now that she has seen the scars all over Raleigh's torso whenever he reappeared shirtless or when Vas always looked hungry, like the outsider he was.

Once Vas seemed to be doing better, walking around the house with some homemade crutches, Faraday decided to join the two younger male werewolves for some time outside so he could stretch his wolf legs. Vasquez kept telling Faraday he would be fine so that the leader of their pack wouldn't feel so guilty leaving him behind. Tilda can get that, and she makes sure to always keep the Mexican busy so that he doesn't feel that missing ache of fur covering his body and his powerful legs running through the woods.

Upon learning about them, Matilda learns that there are indeed more werewolves where Faraday and Vasquez come from. They speak about their old pack quite fondly, talking about the leader, Sam and then his followers, Goodnight, Jack, and Billy. They talk about a were named Red Harvest, too, but they tell Tilda that he doesn't travel with the pack much. He's a bit of a lone wolf.

"I would very much like to meet them," Tilda says one time.

"You probably will," Joshua says while lounging on the couch with her, flipping through channels since now Tilda sported for a TV, as Vasquez snores on his lap, "They'll most likely want to hear about Vas getting hurt and would want to come to see him... Actually, knowing them, they'll most likely want to meet the mysterious woman we've been living with," he sends her a sideways grin.

She laughs in response, "Bring it on."


	8. Supernatural AU!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All rights for the story arc and plot goes to Hazel_Athena from Archive of Our Own. They came up with this fantastic story called Come Bay At The Moon, and it got my gears going. My thanks to the author for the inspiration and the only rights I own to this story is my character.

Emma was glad that she could take a break from lecturing everyone and being the Mother Hen of her pack with Tilda around. She felt as though she had to hold her pack's hand every step of the way, even though Sam was the Alpha leader. But, after Vasquez met Tilda and Joshua, two unexpecting supernatural hunters who fell in love with the biggest werewolf in the pack, Emma didn't realize that she no longer had to nanny her family. Tilda was doing all of that for her. Now, Emma can enjoy being a werewolf again and could loosen up and have as much fun as she once did when... Matthew was alive.

Emma didn't realize the freedom Matilda had bestowed upon her until one day when she was tending to her garden, elbow deep in the dirt. From inside, she could hear shouts and something banging on the floor thanks to her sharp hearing. Growling and cursing under her breath, Emma went to stand up, brushing some of the grass stains from her knees but froze to the spot when she saw Teddy and Red sprinting out the back door. They were rushing to get their shorts off and transform, racing into the forest on all fours, howling in a way that almost sounded like werewolf laughter. Emma appeared confused until she sees Tilda running out of the house and starting to go after them, but reverts to just screaming at them as their tails disappear into the brush.

"And don't come back into the house until you've cleaned up and don't smell like road kill! But you better be back before supper!"

Tilda was stunned, to say the least when she heard laughter coming from behind her. Turning around, Tilda witnesses Emma laughing the loudest she's ever heard her muster. Tilda didn't even know Emma was capable of anything besides snickering! Emma calms down and reverts to a smirk, "So, what'd they do?"

Tilda's face darkens and snarls, turning her head to stare into the forest, "They were playing around and knocked over my art easel. Next time, I'll buy one made out of _silver_."

Emma snorts, "Silver only stings werewolves; it won't kill us."

"Touché," Matilda responds with a playful grin.

"Indeed," Emma replied with an evil smile. Sometimes, she liked Tilda's dark humor.

When learning the truth that Tilda and Joshua were hunters, it didn't settle well with anyone, not even Vasquez. After learning that Bogue hired the two hunters, all Hell broke loose. Alejandro couldn't trust the two hunters he loved so much and grew distant from his pack as they tried to figure out a way around their situation. Bogue was closing in on them, and it didn't help that both Josh and Tilda were supporting him. Granted, neither of the hunters knew that Vas was part of the wolf pack they were hunting for, but it didn't give them the excuse to be hunting supernatural beings they didn't understand. Hunters kill monsters; it was as simple as that.

But not to Joshua or Tilda. When they found out that the actual werewolves they were hunting were their friends, they tried to get away from Bogue, but he wouldn't break the contract with them and tried keeping the two hunters on a leash to get the werewolves to come to him. Despite how Alejandro tried not to love them because of their betrayal, he couldn't help but go back for Tilda and Faraday. He didn't care if they were set as bait, and neither did the other pack members as they came to his aid.

The small rescue mission turned into all-out war, and in the process, Emma had killed Bogue to avenge her husband but Joshua was shot multiple times while trying to save the werewolves' lives. He had been in the hospital for weeks, barely holding onto life, and Matilda barely left his side. When the doctors told Alejandro that Josh would still need watching-over after he gets out of the hospital, he decides to confront his pack about the issue at hand, and they did a vote on if they should let two hunters come and live with them for a little while.

Vasquez had to tear Tilda away from the hospital for her to listen in on their little wolf pack meeting, since Alejandro believed she could reason with the skeptical weres, such as Emma and Billy.

"If I may..." She only stops walking towards the werewolves when all eyes turn to her, and some of them didn't look as friendly, so she took a step back. Tilda sighs out of exhaustion, her hair matted and bags were protruding from under her eyes, showing the signs of the long nights she spent in the hospital beside Joshua, "Look, I know from where we stand Joshua and I don't look very trustworthy. But I promise you, if we had known sooner that you were a pack that didn't hurt anyone and Bogue was the only evil thing in town, we would have killed _him_ months ago."

She turns to Vas, her eyes wide with pleading, "Josh meant it when he told you that we're not that kind of hunters. He and I only harm monsters that get out of line or hurt humans. Otherwise, we always let them live their lives. I had a buddy back in the day; his name is Garth. He was like family to a couple of other hunters and to me. He was like... the glue that kept our group of misfits together. He likes hugs, and even though he was a hunter, he acts like he couldn't hurt a fly."

Halfway through her explanation, her eyes drifted off and stared into space, biting her lip painfully, "He got bitten by a werewolf during a hunt and disappeared from our radar because he believed that family or not, we would hurt him. We looked everywhere for him. We were so scared that he was dead... _no one_ knew where he was. Garth and I... we were taught the things we know today from the same man, Bobby. So when Garth disappeared, I thought the guy I considered my brother was dead. Turns out, when I ran into him again, he had started life with a different pack, and even found a wife, something that no one ever thought he could find while in this... hunting life. We were happy for him, the other hunters and myself. And I promise you that we would never hurt him, or _you_ , because of who you are. Joshua and I would only hunt you if you were hurting innocent people."

That explanation was all that was needed for the pack to cast a vote and for Tilda and Faraday to move in a few days later. Joshua didn't have as much fun with the hospitality because he was cooped up in his room -Vas' room- until he could fully recover and walk around on his own. Matilda, however, well that was a different story.

At first, she was cautious about the werewolf family. Whenever she went outside to go for a routinely morning run, she would cast a glance to whoever stood nearby, afraid that she might have been overstepping some boundaries. She didn't want to overstay both hers and Faraday's welcome and tried to tread lightly, but most of the pack members were friendly and tried reassuring Tilda that she had nothing to fear.

Eventually, Matilda felt a little more comfortable around the weres and even got used to their routines as much as her own. When she would go out for her morning jog, she would sometimes find an old, bear of a wolf, similar to Alejandro's size when he's in his form, trotting not far behind her, tongue rolling over in pure glee. Tilda made a note in her head that Jack Horne was not only the eldest but strangest of the group.

She finally gained Billy's trust by showing him both hers and Joshua's arsenal of hunting gear. Knives, guns, potions, hex bags, bombs, you name it, they got it.

"Cool," he muttered while taking one of the pistols from the trunk of Joshua's car. He examined it with a small smile of interest on his face, proving to Tilda that she got him wrapped around her finger now.

"Oh, that's nothing," she grins, "I have some friends with a grenade launcher back in Kansas."

If Billy heard a hint of sadness or longing in her voice, he never mentioned it.

Red Harvest and Teddy Q came next as the young teenaged werewolves noticed her doing some target practice out in the yard... using a bow and arrows! It sparked Red's interest mostly, but Teddy was more than happy to tag along when Matilda offered to bring the two of them to a nearby archery range so she could get more practice in.

When they came back, Goodnight was the first person they saw as he was cutting up some carrots in the kitchen. The two youngest members of the pack went on and on about how much fun they had, explaining everything down to the last detail for their Cajun friend. Tilda sat on a stool near the dining room table while she watched the scene, smiling to herself as she noticed how Red and Teddy really do turn into excited puppies while explaining everything to Goodnight.

"Wouldn't guns and knives be more efficient in your line of work?" Goodnight finally asks her after both Teddy and Red ran outside to play some more.

"Not when we're hunting Djinn," she explains, "They're like genies, but one touch of their skin and the poison drives you into the most realistic illusions. You could never tell the difference between dreams and reality, and the poison slowly drains you while the Djinn feeds off of your blood. I've seen it happen before, and it's not pretty. So I came up with a simple solution. Using a bow and arrows are much easier tools to use when hunting genies. All you have to do is maintain a safe distance, use your arrows dipped in lamb's blood, and boom; you just killed a Djinn."

"I'm impressed." Goodnight smiled.

Matilda smiles back, trying to make the conversation last, even though Goodnight always knew how to draw conversations out of her, "And what's your specialty, Mr. Robicheaux?"

"Goody or Goodnight is just fine," he assures while spreading his arms wide while presenting the room to the female hunter, "Welcome to my kitchen, Miss Crawford."

She laughs because she should have known better than to ask what Goody's gifts were since she only ever saw him in the kitchen. She wore a sincere smile while stating, "Tilda is just fine."

But apart from Matilda finding a lot of things out about her fellow roommates, for the time being, none of the werewolves found anything out about the female hunter themselves. When asked about it, Tilda shuts down or changes the subject; not even Vasquez could get her to crack.

Sam eventually does get her to open up about her life one day while he's paying bills at the kitchen counter. She had walked in after a long and hard work out, Sam noting how she was sweating while she made her way to the fridge, sighing in content when she opened the door, and the cool breeze relaxed her.

"Do you work out often?" He asks. Chisolm wasn't much for talk since he used to be a lone wolf and never needed to talk, but he was trying to make sense of the two new arrivals living in his household for the time being.

"More or less," she shrugs, "I used to have a work out partner, but you know."

He found himself chuckling slightly, "He's found himself otherwise occupied upstairs in bed, is that right?"

Her smile faltered, and Sam wondered if he had hit a nerve talking about Joshua's injuries, but Tilda didn't address that, "No... Josh never really worked out all that much, despite how his body could fool you. He would occasionally jog with me, but I used to have a work out partner back home. His name was Sam, too... well, still _is_ called that. He's not dead or anything like that."

Chisolm smiles slightly, "I understand, so is this Sam someone special to you?"

"Not in the way you're thinking," Tilda rolled her eyes sarcastically, "Sam Winchester was like a brother to me."

Chisolm's eyes widen, "Sam Winchester? As in, Sam **and** Dean Winchester? The brother hunters?"

Tilda froze, realizing her mistake and knew that there was no coming back from that, and clears her throat, "Yeah... so you've heard of them?"

"Everyone who's picked up Carver Edlund's books or watched the show know about them. They're fictional characters from the Supernatural series."

"On the contrary," Tilda smiles to herself, "The Supernatural series is quite real. Based off of true stories in fact. Dean and Sam are real hunters."

Chisolm hums while in deep thought, "I thought the lore and things on werewolves looked a little _too_ accurate. And you knew them?"

" _Knew them_?" Matilda snorts, "I grew up with them."

Again, Chisolm's eyes widen, "...You're Adrea Holland, aren't you? The woman who grew up in the hunting life. Bobby Singer raised her, and that explains why you mentioned a man named Garth. He was the hunter that hid Kevin Tran the Prophet before mysteriously disappearing and returned as a werewolf. Adrea Holland is a Nephilim, a mighty one because her father is Lucifer himself."

"Wow, it sounds to me that you might be a bit of a fan," She tries to joke, laughing it off until she realized that Sam wasn't exactly laughing with her and bites her lip. She nods slowly, no longer wanting to hide it, "I am. I changed my name so I could disappear. I tried getting out of the hunting life, leaving my boys behind without telling them where I was going..." Tilda-- Adrea leans her elbows against the wooden table, smiling slightly to herself, "But unfortunately, I ran into Joshua, and the both of us started hunting together. I never got out of the Life, but at least it was under a different name, so I could start fresh."

Sam nods in understanding, smiling in a way to ease her worries, "But look at you now. You're mighty safe living with us, and if you want, you and Faraday can stay here for as long as you like. That way you would never have to worry about anything going bump in the night ever again."

Tilda responds with a sad smile, "You're too kind, Sam. Really. But I don't believe Josh, and I can stay here. It's not like I don't want to go, but... we broke Ale's heart. We broke his trust, and I honestly don't believe we could ever get it back. I mean, Josh accidentally shot Mr. Horne, and even though he didn't mean it, we're still hunters. I would honestly do anything to get out of the hunting life since I've been forced into it ever since I was thirteen. But Josh... he was born into this life. His mother was a hunter, and he grew up traveling the country, just the two of them. He's never known any other place as home. That's why our system worked... it was just the two of us traveling together."

Sam nods again, a gesture he must often do, "But then you two met Vasquez."

Matilda couldn't help but smile at his name, Sam notices, and she sighs, "I'm used to living with two men, as you already know. Sammy and Dean could be quite the animals themselves and I always had to take care of them," Chisolm finds himself laughing at this while she continued with much lighter shoulders, "It wouldn't have been a far stretch for me if Vas somehow hopped into our car and we drove out of town and never looked back. Joshua agreed with me that if Vas couldn't come hunting with us, then we'd stay here in town. It was a tough commitment because it was something we've never discussed before. Settling down, having a house, real jobs, a family, whatever. But we were willing to do it if it was with Ale. But then..."

"You found out who Vas was, and you almost felt conflicted."

Tilda shouldn't be the least bit surprised that Sam is the most understanding of the entire pack, but either way, it makes her hesitant before continuing, "Yes. Listen, I have NOTHING against domestic werewolves. I've met so many in my line of work who want to be left alone and live their semi-normal lives. They promised they would never hurt an innocent human, and for the most part, I could leave them alone, and nothing would happen. But... when Josh and I found out that it was your pack that just so happened to include Ale we were hunting for Bogue, we panicked. We tried everything in our power to drive Bogue away. We even lied to him and said that there weren't any werewolves in the area. That didn't go very well, and Bogue practically held us at gunpoint. He even threatened Joshua that if he didn't hunt your pack... he'd let his men hurt me... in more ways than one."

Sam watched as Tilda shivered at this, her eyes starting to grow a size bigger while trying to fight back the tears at the very thought, "I've been through worst, honestly. Josh doesn't even know the half of it. Being practically family to Sam and Dean puts a target on your back let's say that. Anyways, what I'm trying to say, Mr. Chisolm is that we're still hunters. We are who we are. I could probably stay here all I want because I'm used to being around big families, but Faraday isn't. He would need a bigger adjustment period if we were ever to stay permanently, but even then I don't think either of us would want to overstep any boundaries. We messed up with Ale that much we know. And it's not just because we're two humans living amongst a werewolf pack because even though Sam and Dean think I'm dead, I'm still a Nephilim who is constantly hunted by angels and demons who are desperate for the gifts I have or are just desperate to be rid of me in general. I would be endangering your family if I stayed."

"Now see here, Miss Crawford," Sam intervenes with a stern look and tone of voice, "You may have lost a lot of loved ones in your line of work, but so have we. We know the risks, and we also know that you and Faraday will always be welcomed here. Whether Vasquez loves you or not, the rest of us consider the two of you a part of the pack should you choose the stay, and we'll gladly take the danger with it. We're monsters, so we can fend for ourselves should the occasion arise." 

Matilda rolls her lips, smart enough to know not to talk back to Sam Chisolm and nods her head as a sign that she understood the pack leader loud and clear.

And so it was. Even though Faraday is still not well enough to talk about and decide whether or not he wanted to stay, Tilda knew that from the bottom of her heart she never wants to leave. She's hated the hunting life for as long as she could remember, but it's all that she's ever known. She knew that if she even tried to live a normal life, she would have to suffer the consequences. She knows this by watching the Winchester family. Mary tried having a life with her husband and two sons, look where that got her family. Sam tried going to college and living with the love of his life, see where that got her. Even Dean tried living with an old love of his and her son, and he eventually had to wipe their memories so that they would be safe. Tilda's never tried living a normal life because she's seen what happens to other people when the Winchester's try. But now that she's changed her name and made the majority of the supernatural world think she's dead, all she ever wants is out. And she'd happily live a life here if she could.

And she even thinks as much while drawing one night on the front porch, sketching out the outline of Jack while the big, old man sleeps soundly on the porch swing across from her. She smiles in amusement, humming a little to the song that was singing softly on the radio beside her.

She feels a tap on her shoulder, and she looked up, meeting eyes with Alejandro's, whose dark silhouette was being displayed by the only porch light on above him. He offers his hand out to her, silently asking her for a dance, and she doesn't hesitate to take his hand in hers. He leads her off the steps of the porch, and they begin to dance in the moonlight, swaying softly to the beat of the song, Think a Little Less. The two haven't exactly talked much outside of Faraday's health, who was currently still resting in Vasquez's room, and that's probably because there is still trust that needs to be bought back, despite how much they still love one another.

Horne wakes up halfway through the song and watches the couple dance with adoration. He quietly taps the side of the house, rousing the rest of the pack to step outside and watch the scene for themselves. Red Harvest and Teddy decide to join the dancing but in wolf form, yipping happily at the couple's heels and eventually earning a laugh out of Matilda.

Emma watches the scene fondly, her arms crossed until she addresses the Cajun standing beside her, "Goodnight."

"Yes, Emma?" The older man responds.

"I believe you still haven't asked this girl for a dance yet."

He chuckles in bemusement, stepping down the porch and offering his hand to the female were, "My apologies, ma'am."

After months go by, it is clear to see that Joshua and Matilda aren't going anywhere any time soon. They have made up with Vasquez, and the three of them couldn't be happier. The three of them were head over heels for each other, and they showed as much. Honestly, Goodnight and Billy couldn't even top that. 

"I'm hoooome!" Tilda sang happily while opening her car door one late afternoon. She barely steps out of the car when she's tackled by the biggest wolf of the pack, Vas. He hauls her down and licks every inch of her face, making her squeal in disgust as his dog breath smelled like he ate something he shouldn't have... again.

"Alejandro Vasquez you get your damn hairy body off of me before I start singing and butcher your sharp hearing."

The dark wolf whimpers at that, as if saying she was no fun and hops off of her lap. She gets up from the gravel driveway and brushes herself off before yelling into the house, "I didn't go grocery shopping for all of you just to haul all of these bags into the house by myself!"

And just like a dinner bell, five more adults and two juvenile wolves come bounding up to Tilda from around the house like a herd of goats, being followed by a human on two legs. Faraday, now fully healed and only sporting a limp doesn't hesitate to kiss the woman squarely on the lips to welcome her home and offer to help her with the groceries, all the while the entire werewolf pack swarms around their legs and nip at their ankles for good measure. 


End file.
